Uchiha Sasuke Returns
by ilovesoccer13
Summary: Sasuke returns to Konoha and tries to get Sakura to fall in love with him again. But unbeknownst to Sasuke and the rest of Konoha, Sakura and Naruto have a secret...Saku/Naru, Ten/Neji, Shika/Ino, Kiba/Hina.
1. Sasuke Returns

Sasuke touched down outside the front gates to Konoha, turning to his three team mates: Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu. "Well, I guess we can all go our separate ways, now," Sasuke said, trying to sound sad...and failing. "Now that I've gotten my revenge, I can return to the village with no regrets."

"Won't they arrest you?" Juugo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Of course not. Not if Naruto or half the girls in the village, inluding Ino and Sakura, have anything to say about it." Suigetsu started to say something about going after Kisame for his sword, but Sasuke had heard it all before, so he retreated to his thoughts. "Sakura..." Sasuke mentally frowned. "Now that I'm done with revenge, my head is cleared and I've realized how I feel about you...I just hope you waited for me..." He gave the village a longing glance, which didn't go unnoticed by the other three.

Suigetsu stopped mid-rant and looked at him. "Geez, you could have just told me to go away if you didn't really care." Suigetsu rolled his eyes and jumped onto a nearby tree branch. "Well, I'm off. Maybe we'll all meet again someday. Hopefully, we won't." He gave them a wave. "See you later Sasuke, Juugo, Bitch."

Karin let out an angry growl and started after him, but Juugo held her back. Suigetsu grinned at her, and then he was gone.

"Well, do you have any plans, Juugo?" Sasuke asked in his I-don't-care-but-I'll-ask-anyway tone.

"I don't know what I'm going to do..." Juugo said. "I was thinking I would join you two in the village, but I might be too dangerous."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'join you two'?"

"Oh, you didn't know? Karin's going to live in the village, too!" Juugo told him.

Sasuke sweat-dropped. Out of all his team mates, it had to be HER...

"That I way I can be with you, Sasuke!" Karin cried, throwing her arms around him suddenly. Sasuke's face turned green.

Juugo grinned at them. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't stay in the village or I could hurt someone, but I don't want to be by myself because then there's nobody to stop me if I get that urge..." Juugo sighed. "It's hopeless..." Suddenly his face brightened. "I know! I should go with Suigetsu!"

"He already left," Sasuke said in complete monotone, forcing Karin away from himself.

"I'll find him," Juugo said with a nod. "Well, this is goodbye."

Karin's looked at him sadly, but Sasuke just stood there. "Yup."

Juugo blinked at him. "Dude, do you care about anyone other than yourself?"

Sasuke stared back at him. "Yes..." He looked off into space suddenly. "...there is...one person."

"I hope it's me!" Karin thought excitedly. Juugo shrugged.

"It's none of my business, so I'm just going to leave now..." He hopped onto the same branch Suigetsu had been standing on moments before, and looked at them hesitantly. "Well...goodbye."

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away, while Karin waved goodbye sadly. Juugo waved back, and then slowly hopped away.

"Well, that's that," Karin said, sniffing a little and turning to Sasuke. "We can go in, now."

Sasuke didn't say anything, but he ignored the gate, jumping high onto the wall next to it. Karin hopped up next to him, and together they descended into the city. They followed the main road, avoiding the two men that were in charge of opening the gate, and after a minute they found themselves right in the middle of the village, it's citizens all around them. Nobody was even giving them a second glance.

"Ahem..." Sasuke cleared his throat, but no one even turned their head. "I'm back."

At that, one person about his age turned and looked at him. Kiba ran over to Sasuke and gaped at him. "Sasuke! You're back!"

Sasuke shrugged. "Yeah."

Kiba grinned. "I'm gonna go tell the others! Welcome back, buddy!"

He clapped Sasuke on the back and ran off. Sasuke blinked and stood next to Karin silently, looking around at the villagers, who continued to ignore them.

Sasuke decided to approach one. He tapped a random woman on the shoulder and said, "Hello. I'm Sasuke Uchiha."

The woman raised an eyebrow at him. "Well what do you know? The traitor's back. Someone call the Hokage," she said with absolutely no trace of emotion.

Sasuke blinked at her, and after a moment stepped away and headed back to Karin. "I think they all hate me," he told her.

Karin gasped. "How could anyone hate YOU, Sasuke?"

Sasuke pretended not to hear her. "Kiba seemed to take to me nicely. I'll go look for someone else I used to know."

"Where should we go?" Karin asked.

"The training grounds."

Sasuke and Karin arrived at every Konoha ninja's favorite place to train a few minutes later. Sasuke looked around, finally spotting two familiar faces. "Neji. Tenten." He walked over to the two older ninja, who were currently locked in combat. Tenten unleashed her weapons at Neji, who immediately used his Heavenly Spin techinique to create a shield and block them all. When the technique ended, Tenten and Neji stood facing each other, gasping for breath. It was at that moment that Sasuke and Karin reached them. "Hi."

They both looked away from each other to stare at him. "...Sasuke?" Tenten finally said. "What are you doing here?"

"I've gotten my revenge, and now I've returned to the village," Sasuke told her.

"Who's this?" Tenten asked, looking at Karin. Tenten grinned at Sasuke. "Is this your girlfriend?"

"No," Sasuke said, but it was quickly drowned out by Karin's, "YES!"

Neji looked away from them and back at Tenten. "We should continue our training."

"Wait," Sasuke interrupted. "Do you know where I could find...Naruto and Sakura?"

Tenten nodded. "Yeah. They train here a lot too. Their usual spot is right through those trees." She pointed off to her left.

"Thanks," Sasuke said with a nod. He headed in that direction with Karin following behind. After a one-minute walk through the trees, they came to another clearing. In the very center were two figures. The one on the right was doubled over with the other's fist lodged in his gut. Sasuke stared at them.

Naruto collapsed on the ground, coughing up blood, and Sakura's eyes widened. She kneeled down next to him and pressed her hands against his stomach. They glowed with green chakra. "I'm so sorry, Naruto! I didn't mean to punch you that hard!"

"S'okay Sakura," Naruto said hoarsely, smiling up at her. After a minute he stood up. "I feel better already! See?" He looked over at Sakura to see her staring at something behind him. Naruto turned around. His jaw dropped.

Sasuke walked towards them almost nervously, with a girl that they didn't know trailing behind him like a lost puppy.

Naruto opened and closed his mouth like a fish until Sasuke reached them. "Sas...Sasuke?" he asked.

Sasuke nodded, his eyes moving from Naruto to Sakura, who was still on the ground, staring up at him.

"Sakura," Sasuke commented with another nod. Sakura stood up, not taking her eyes off of him.

"Sasuke...you came back."

He stared back at her. "Yeah. I did."

Karin and Naruto frowned, noticing something was going on. Naruto leaned over and grabbed Sakura's hand suddenly, leading her away before she could do anything. Sasuke watched as they glared at each other angrily.

"You were staring...him...about me?" Was all Sasuke could make out of their hushed whispers.

"I...love...!" Sakura responded just as angrily. "just...he...came back!"

Naruto sighed. "Okay...trust you. Remember...have...secret, okay?" He gave her a small smile and looked like he was holding himself back from doing something else. Sakura nodded and smiled back softly.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. What he had heard made absolutely no sense. Did Sakura love him? And what was Naruto so angry about?

Sasuke smirked. "I bet I know what's going on," he thought. "Sakura likes me, and Naruto likes Sakura and is jealous. Just like old times...except this time I have a little surprise of my own..." He smiled to himself. "I wonder when I should tell her..."

Sakura and Naruto walked back towards them and after a moment, Naruto grinned. "It's good to have you back, Sasuke. Would you be interested in rejoining Team 7?"

Sasuke tried to manage a smile. "Sure."

Sakura looked at Naruto. "What about Sai?"

"Sai can still stay. Now that I passed my Chounin exams, none of us are Genin, and our squad isn't really official like before, right? So it doesn't matter how many people we have."

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I could ask Tsunade-sama about it." She looked from Sasuke to Karin. "Who's this?"

"My fan girl," Sasuke said with a frown before Karin could get a word in. Sakura giggled and Naruto crossed his arms and looked from Sasuke to Sakura.

Karin huffed. "Say that all you want, Sasuke, but eventually you'll be my boyfriend!"

"I seriously doubt that," he replied without looking at her. Karin glared at him but didn't reply.

Sakura and Naruto looked at them with raised eyebrows.

"So where are you two going to stay at night, or live, assuming you're staying in the village," Sakura asked.

"We're staying," Sasuke said with a nod. "I'm going to live at my old house, like I used to."

"What about her?" Naruto said, pointing at Karin.

"My name is Karin, thank you very much!"

"She also answers to bitch," Sasuke said.

Naruto laughed and Sakura and Karin frowned.

"That's mean, Sasuke!" Sakura told him.

"You haven't seen what she's put me through," Sasuke replied.

"Where is she going to stay?" Naruto interrupted.

"I could stay at Sasuke's house!" Karin cried, forgetting her anger.

Sasuke went pale. "No."

"Well, my house is too small, we couldn't fit another person. And I doubt Naruto could fit her in his house..."

"Sure I can!" Naruto cut her off. "I have plenty of room!"

Sakura shot him a look. "No, you can't, right Naruto?" she said through gritted teeth.

Naruto went red. "Apparently you can't stay with me, Karin. I...uh...my house has a cockroach infestation!"

"Ew!" Karin cried. "I don't want to stay there anyway!"

Sakura mentally breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, well, maybe the Hokage knows where you can live, Karin. Her office is that way." Sakura pointed in a random direction and shoved Karin that way. "Go find her."

"But..." Karin started.

"Hurry! It gets dark out here pretty soon and you could get lost!" Naruto cried.

Karin gasped and quickened her pace, leaving the three of them alone.

Sakura and Naruto laughed, and Sasuke grinned.

"You chose HER for your team?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "She has her dumb moments, but normally she's pretty sharp."

"Do you like her?" Sakura asked curiously.

Sasuke stared at her seriously. "No."

Sakura looked back at him nervously. "O-oh. Why not?"

Naruto watched the two of them with concern.

"She's just not the right girl." Sasuke looked into Sakura's eyes as he said this, emphasizing every word.

Sakura looked from Sasuke to Naruto anxiously. "Well...I have to go. See you guys later." He gave Sasuke a shaky smile, leaned over and kissed Naruto on the cheek, and promptly fled.

"What was that all about?" Sasuke asked. "I think I scared her off..." he thought to himself.

"Um...I don't know..." Sasuke noticed Naruto's cheeks were pink. "I guess she just did it for no reason...she must have forgotten we're just friends...hehe..." Naruto blushed darker.

Sasuke frowned. "I wasn't talking about that, dobe. I was talking about how she left so quickly!"

"Oh!" Naruto cried. "Well...um...I don't know why she did that, maybe she had something to do..." Naruto looked up at the sky. "Well, it's getting dark out. I'm going to head home."

Sasuke nodded. "Bye."

"Bye!" Naruto waved at him and left.

Sasuke stared after him. Once Naruto was out of sight, he headed in the direction Sakura had went. Within minutes, he had traced her to the road. He peeked out from behind a bush to see Sakura walking down the main road of the village, alone.

Sasuke frowned. "Should I?" he thought. He shrugged to himself. "Now's as good a time as any." He stepped out from behind the bushes and walked towards her, letting his feet hit the ground hard so she could hear him coming.

Sakura spun around to see him a few feet away. "Sasuke, what are you doing here?" She crossed her arms suspiciously. "Your house is on the other side of town!"

Sasuke looked at her. "Turn on the charms, Uchiha," he thought to himself. Then he shook his head. "Something is seriously wrong with me."

"Sakura, I have something to tell you." He took a step towards her.

She looked at him nervously and took a small step back. "What?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke frowned at her actions. "Sakura, do you still like me?" he asked suddenly.

Her eyes widened. "W-why would you want to know that?" she asked.

Sasuke stared into her eyes. "Because..." He sighed. "I like you. The same way you liked me three years ago."

Sakura was frozen to the spot. "Wha...what? Sasuke...I..." She trailed off and stood their silently, finally taking a deep breath. "I don't like you like that...not anymore."

He stared at her. "What?"

Sakura took another deep breath and stepped away from him. "I said I don't like you."

Sasuke glared at her. "Well, who do you like, then?"

"It's none of your business who I like," Sakura said, crossing her arms. "...but it's just not you."

Sasuke frowned. "Why not?" he asked stiffly.

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Why not? Because you've been gone for three years, that's why not! I've moved on." She took a deep breath. "Besides...I..."

"You what?" Sasuke looked at her curiously.

"I..." Sakura's cheeks went pink. "I have a boyfriend."

He snorted. Sasuke Uchiha snorted!

Sakura glared at him. "What, you don't believe me?"

Sasuke smirked. "Of course I don't. And I also don't know why you're rejecting me like this, but it won't last for long. You don't know how lucky you are, Sakura. Out of all the girls in Konoha, I picked you."

"Ha!" Sakura laughed. "Like anyone would date you now! Everyone thinks you're a traitor now, other than Karin. Even Ino's moved on!"

"Oh please." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Who's she dating now, and how long has it been going on? Two days?"

Sakura grinned. "Ask her yourself." She turned around and pointed at two figures behind him on a bench. Sasuke turned around. It was almost completely dark now, and from his distance he could see a girl with blonde hair that he realized was Ino, and a guy with dark hair that looked familiar. Sasuke blushed when he realized they were making out. He looked back at Sakura to see her smirking at him. "I'll tell you what. You get her to go on a date with you, and you can have a date with me."

"Fine." Sasuke looked at her, mentally forcing the blush off his face. "Should I go right now?"

Sakura nodded. "Right now. In front of her boyfriend."

Sasuke shrugged. "Easy." He turned around and headed towards the bench. As he got closer his jaw dropped, and he stopped in front of the kissing couple. They broke apart and looked up at him. "What the hell?!" Sasuke cried. "Shikamaru?!"

Shikamaru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as Ino stared at Sasuke. "Sasuke...you're back." Ino said.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, remembering what he was supposed to do. But in front of Shikamaru? He smirked. Sakura was even smarter than when they were twelve. "Um...listen, Ino..." He started, scratching his neck.

"What?" Ino asked.

"So...would you be willing to go on a date with me?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Women are so troublesome. As soon as you think they love you, they turn around and..."

"Hell no!" Ino cried, standing up and smacking him across the face. "You're a traitor! I would NEVER date you! And as you can see, I have a boyfriend!"

Sasuke stood still, trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. Ino Yamanaka had just smacked him. Ino...Yamanaka. Overreaction, much? And to top it all off, she had rejected him for Shikamaru. Shikamaru! This was an outrage! What would Sakura think?

Sasuke turned around to look in Sakura's direction. There was nobody there. "That little...hmph. I'll talk to her tomorrow." He turned back to Ino, who was still glaring at him. "Goodbye." Sasuke quickly walked away in the direction of his old house, without another word.


	2. Secret Revealed

Sasuke woke up the next morning when a bright light shined through his window and hit him square in the face. He sat up quickly, wondering where he was. Then his memories flooded back to him. He was back in Konoha. He sighed. And Sakura had actually rejected him. "Maybe she really does have a boyfriend..." Sasuke thought. He smirked to himself. "I'll follow her today. Then if she has a boyfriend, I'll really know."

He sat up and got dressed, hurrying out the front door and across the village to Sakura's house. After the long walk, he decided to sit down and rest under a tree across the road. He watched the front door from the shadows, willing Sakura to come out and take him to her so-called "boyfriend".

Ten minutes passed. "Maybe she's already left her house. But we don't have any missions today as far as I know, so..." He sighed and didn't move.

Twenty more minutes ticked by. Sasuke finally stood up with a grunt and started to step into view, when suddenly he heard the front door open. He dived back behind the tree as quickly as he could, watching Sakura carefully. She hadn't seemed to notice anything. Sakura walked from her front door to the road, stopping suddenly. Sasuke held his breath. Had she seen him?

Sakura looked down at her hip, where her weapons pack was located, opening it and looking inside. Sakura grinned. "Everything's there!" she exclaimed to herself, continuing down the road towards the training grounds. Sasuke followed behind silently.

"She's going to train again? Sasuke thought to himself. "Probably with Naruto..." He smiled to himself. "Sakura dating Naruto...that would be a laugh!" He snickered at the thought of Naruto getting the girl Sasuke liked. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he ducked for cover as Sakura spun around.

"Who's there?" she asked. Sasuke was careful to make no noise as he watched her from behind a bush. Sakura carefully took out a kunai, but after a moment she turned back around and kept walking, the kunai still in her hand. Sasuke sighed.

"That was close..." he thought. "I need to be more careful..."

The walk took about five minutes, and even though Sakura turned around occasionally, Sasuke managed not to be seen. They reached the training grounds, and Sasuke saw that his suspicions were correct...she was training with Naruto. He hid behind a tree and watched Sakura walk up to the blonde boy.

"Hey, Naruto! Ready to spar?" Sakura asked.

"You bet!" Naruto replied happily.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Hmm...guess he finally stopped saying believe it..."

Sakura and Naruto both took their battle stances, and Sakura moved first, punching the ground so it cracked in a line to Naruto. Naruto jumped into the air and spun, taking out a kunai and throwing it at her. Sakura quickly blocked it with the kunai she was already holding, beginning to gather chakra in one hand.

"Hey, no punches today! I still hurt from yesterday!" Naruto cried.

Sakura smirked at him. "Fine. I won't use my fists if you don't use your shadow clones!" She threw her kunai at him and he dodged it.

"What? You know that's not fair!" Naruto told her, already beginning to form the hand signs.

"Fine. Use them," Sakura said, continuing to charge up her fist.

"Whoa, whoa, okay, I won't use them!" Naruto cried, waving his hands in front of himself.

"Too late!" Sakura cried playfully, charging at him. Naruto shouted fearfully and quickly created a shadow clone to stand in front of him and take the blow. However, he didn't expect Sakura to pummel right through it, and barely had time to move out of the way. She grazed his shoulder and left a small gash, but thanks to the Kyuubi it was already healing. Sakura stopped the fight. "Naruto, are you okay?" she asked, taking a step towards him.

"Oh, I'm fine..." Naruto smirked at her, and Sakura looked at him, confused.

"Wha..." Before she could finish, she felt someone grab her from behind. The Naruto in front of her poofed away, and Sakura frowned and spun around in the real Naruto's arms. "That was cheap, and you know it!" She exclaimed. Naruto grinned down at her while Sasuke watched with interest from behind his tree.

"I know. But I'm fighting with an injury, so we're even."

"You are not! You know I healed you yesterday, you baka!"

She glared up at him, but the grin didn't leave Naruto's face. "You're so cute when you're mad at me." He pecked her on the forehead.

Sasuke gasped. It wasn't possible...

Sakura looked up at Naruto nervously. "Naruto...not here...we could get caught!" Sakura whispered, but Sasuke heard every word.

Naruto shook his head. "Do you see anyone, Sakura?" He swept his arm around in a quick arc. "There's nobody here. We're all alone, so stop worrying so much!" He cupped her cheek with one hand and she stared back at him hesitantly. "Nobody is going to find out about us." He leaned down and captured her lips softly.

"Mmm...Naruto...but..." Sakura said between kisses.

Naruto pulled away and touched his finger to her lips. "Shh. Listen, Sakura. I really like you, and I hate having to keep it a secret that I've finally gotten the girl of my dreams. And when you're here in my arms..." He looked down at her lovingly. "Everything's perfect. The smell of your hair, and your hands..." Naruto shivered. "Even when you hug me, I get chills. And my favorite thing is the taste." Both Naruto and Sakura went pink, and Naruto suddenly became nervous. "Er...you can pretend I didn't say anything, if you want. I'm just...I'm afraid you won't like me anymore if we don't do anything more than we do when we're friends."

Sakura looked up at him curiously. "Naruto, is something wrong? You usually seem okay just knowing that I'm your girlfriend..." Comprehension filled her eyes. "This is about Sasuke, isn't it?"

Sasuke inhaled quickly at the mention of his name. This was all too much. Naruto and Sakura? Together? "I must be dreaming..." Sasuke thought. He pinched himself. It hurt. Sasuke sighed. "I can't believe this is happening! What does Naruto have that I don't?" He turned his attention back to the couple.

Naruto was scratching his head nervously. "Maybe..."

"It is, isn't it!" Sakura cried. "Naruto, we talked about this yesterday! I don't like him! I will never like him!" She ended her rant with a sigh. "He even asked me out yesterday, and I said no."

Anger clouded Naruto's eyes. "That bastard! Wait until I get my hands on h..."

"Calm down, do you want him to find out about us? I think he'll figure it out after the first punch in the face." Sakura grabbed his hand softly. "Listen...I know you're right. We're dating now, and it's wrong for me to want to keep it a secret in the first place. But..." She gave him a small smile, and Naruto smiled back. "...we ARE alone...so, I think it would be okay too..." She blushed. "Kiss. But that's it for now, okay?"

Naruto nodded seriously. "I'm not going to push you into anything, you know that, right?"

Sakura nodded. "I know, Naruto." She squeezed his hand softly and pulled him to a tree, sitting down next to it with her back against the bark. Naruto took a seat next to her and pulled her into his lap.

Sakura looked up at him, confused. "I thought you wanted to..."

"I do. But for now, I'm okay with just this," Naruto told her. Sakura sighed contently and leaned against his chest.

"You're the perfect boyfriend, you know that?" Sakura asked.

Naruto grinned down at her. "Can I get that on tape?"

"Way to ruin the moment."

"No problem." Naruto looked down at the girl in his arms and let his hand travel to hers, tracing patterns on the back of it.

Sakura jerked her hand away with a laugh. "That tickles!"

Naruto smiled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. "MY Sakura. Sasuke can't have you."

Sakura giggled and put her hands over his, turning her head around to look at him with pink cheeks. "Naruto...why do you like me so much?"

Naruto gave her a thoughtful look, withdrawing a hand from around her to tap his chin. After a minute, he grinned at her. "Cause you're perfect."

Sakura sighed happily and turned back around. "We haven't had a moment like this since you asked me out."

"Yeah." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Hey, Sakura?"

Sakura turned around once again to look at him.

"Yeah?"

Naruto stared at her. "Um...I know you already said it was okay, but...can I kiss you?"

Sasuke still hadn't moved from the tree. "No! Not again! Say no, Sakura!" He thought frantically, watching them with wide eyes.

A small smile played on Sakura's lips. "You don't have to ask, Naruto."

Naruto blushed and scratched his head. "Yeah, I know...but..."

Sakura cut him off by pressing her lips lightly to his. She pulled away slowly, and something changed in Naruto's eyes. He looked at her hungrily, leaning down and capturing her lips again. Sakura maneuvered herself completely around so her whole body was facing him without breaking the kiss. Her hands went to his shoulders, and Naruto put one of his on her waist and another against her cheek.

Naruto slowed down as he deepened the kiss, asking for permission gently. He felt Sakura hesitate, and he withdrew his tongue, closing his lips against hers in understanding. To be honest, he was fine with regular kissing; the fact that it was Sakura he was doing this with was enough. But that didn't stop him from gasping when he felt Sakura do the exact same thing with her tongue a moment later.

"You taste...like ramen..." Sakura breathed out, withdrawing from him at last. Naruto laughed huskily and moved to kiss her on the temple, but in the process he noticed how inviting her ear looked.

Sakura watched his face nervously. Naruto, what are you...oh." She closed her eyes and relaxed as Naruto took control, eventually moving down to her neck. Slowly his kisses got lighter and lighter until he finally ended with a featherlight peck on the lips. Sakura opened her eyes slowly and looked at him. Her cheeks turned pink. "I've...um...never done anything like that with another guy before."

Naruto blinked at her. "I've never done that with another girl..." he admitted. He blushed, thinking, "Please don't ask how..."

"How did you know how to do all that?" Sakura asked with interest.

Naruto blushed even darker. "You don't want to know."

"Yeah I do," Sakura grinned at him.

Naruto closed his eyes nervously, finally opening one halfway. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Naruto shut his eyes tightly again. "Ireadpervysage'sbooks."

Sakura gaped at him. "You WHAT?"

Naruto grit his teeth. "Please don't make me say it again. He needed someone to test them out before he published them!"

Sakura looked at him for a second, before bursting into laughter.

Naruto frowned. "It's not funny!"

Sakura nodded at him without stopping. "Yes it is!"

"No it's not!" Naruto defended. He smiled at her smugly. "But this is!"

Before Sakura knew what had happened Naruto had shoved her onto the ground and was tickling her sides.

"Naruto...stop...!" Sakura forced out between laughs.

"No way! Not until you promise to never mention what I just told you!"

Sasuke sighed from behind the tree, gripping his head in frustration. "Naruto! Naruto! I don't believe it!" he thought. "THAT'S her boyfriend? Naruto?" He shook his head roughly and looked at the couple determinedly. "I am NOT losing the one person I care about to Naruto, of all people! There's no way Sakura can honestly like him better than me!" Sasuke thought angrily. "I'll prove she still likes me, one way or another. I'm breaking them up if it's the last thing I do!" Sasuke stomped away angrily, not bothering if they heard him.

Just as soon as he was out of view, Naruto heard the noise and stopped tickling Sakura. "Did you hear that?" he asked seriously.

Sakura sat up, the smile fading from her face. "No? What?"

Naruto sat up and looked in Sasuke's direction. "It sounded like someone walking..."

Sakura gasped. "Do you think they heard us?"

"I don't know..." Naruto said. He stood up and helped Sakura off the ground. "Only one way to find out."


	3. Failed Plans

**Author's Note: I just wanted to let everyone know that I absolutely despise Sasuke, and there is no way that this story will end up Sasu/Saku or anything close to that. This is definitely a Naru/Saku, so no worries! :D**

Sasuke exited the woods at last and walked down the road with his hands in his pockets. "Should I keep their secret?" he thought with a smirk. "They would hate it if I told..." He frowned suddenly. "Sakura would hate **me **if I told...guess it's best if I don't tell anyone for now. Besides, in addition to Sakura hating me, it would be harder to break them up if they went public with it..."

He shook his head. "Well, at any rate, it's **Naruto**, for crying out loud. How hard could it be to get her to leave him? With a little convincing I'll have her in no time..." He ran his hand through his hair. "After all, I'm Sasuke Uchiha. Who can resist me?" He glared into empty space. "Other than Ino. Anyway, I need to figure out how to get her to like me..." He scratched his head. "There's the obvious choice: being nice. Bringing her flowers and chocolate and crap like that. Maybe I should try that first..." He shrugged uncertainly and headed in the direction of... "Shit. Flowers are definitely out! I can't go there!" Sasuke thought, spotting the flower shop Ino worked in. He groaned. "But girls really like them..."

He stood still for a moment, pondering. Finally, he puffed out his chest and headed into the shop. "There's no way in hell I'm scared of..."

"Ino!" Sasuke cried almost nervously, spotting the young girl at the counter. Ino glared at him.

"What do you think you're doing here?" she asked.

"Um...buying flowers?" Sasuke replied, avoiding her eyes.

Ino looked at him suspiciously. "For who? Because if they're for me, I'll..."

"They're not for you," Sasuke replied haughtily.

Ino sighed in relief. "Good. What kind do you want, then?"

Sasuke walked over to the counter and looked around. "Hmm...I guess those yellowish ones are okay...they're called daisies, right? That color's good on girls." Sasuke's eyes widened as her looked from Ino's angry face to her blonde hair. He waved his hands quickly. "No, no, I meant for girls, not on girls! For girls!"

"I SAID I'M DATING SHIKAMARU, YOU BASTARD!" Ino shouted, punching him in the face and knocking him to the floor. "NOW GET OUT!"

Sasuke scrambled up and fled from the flower shop, nearly tripping over his own feet. He ran all the way down the street without looking back, finally stopping to catch his breath. "Dimwitted, sadistic bitch..." he mumbled, rubbing his swelling eye. "That's the last time I try to buy a girl flowers!" He looked up and down the street with a frown. "Now...where can a guy get chocolate around here?"

"Chocolate! Get your chocolate here!" a man called from the front door of one of the stores. Sasuke smiled.

"Easy as pie." He walked up to the man. "Hi, I'd like to buy some chocolate," Sasuke said, trying to act friendly.

"What kind do you want?" the man replied, leading him inside.

"Er...do you have any in one of those heart-shaped box things that guys give their girlfriends?" Sasuke asked.

"Sure." The man walked behind the counter and bent over to pick something up. A second later, three large heart-shaped boxes were sitting in front of him. "Would you like our fluffy box of chocolates, our extra fluffy box of chocolates, or our extra super special fluffy box of chocolates?"

Sasuke blinked. "Are you gay?"

The man ignored him. "Just pick one, pay, and leave."

Sasuke grit his teeth. He wanted to buy the best one for Sakura, but it was going to kill him to say it. "I'll take the...extra super special fluffy box," Sasuke told him in monotone.

"That'll be...how much you got?" Sasuke showed him his wallet and the man counted the money inside. "Well whaddya know? That's the exact price!" The man grabbed all the money out of the wallet before Sasuke could say anything and shoved the box into his hands, forcing him out the front doors.

Sasuke groaned. "I wonder if this even has chocolate in it..." Sasuke thought, opening the box. To his relief, it looked pretty normal. He smiled half-heartedly. "Well...I guess I'll just write her name on it and sign it, and then I can leave it at her front door..." He set out in the direction of Sakura's house.

After borrowing a pen from a suspicious Konohamaru, Sasuke had signed the box and dropped it off right in front of Sakura's front door. Now he was sitting in his spot across the street, waiting for her to show up.

What he did not expect was for Naruto to walk her home. "Ugh..." Sasuke clapped a hand to his forehead. "I was supposed to come in and sweep her off her feet after she found it! I can't do it now, with Naruto there!" He sighed. "I guess I'll just have to let her find it and talk to her tomorrow..."

Naruto and Sakura reached the front door and they both looked down.

"What's that?" Naruto asked. "Do you think it's dangerous? After that woods incident, I'm a little nervous..."

So you didn't send it?" Sakura asked.

Naruto scratched his head, embarrassed. "No...should I have?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows and looked at him. "Well...if I were to get a box of chocolates from someone, I would hope it's the guy I'm dating!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "THAT'S what that is? Do you think...do you think HE sent it?"

Sakura bent down and picked the box up, reading the front. "To Sakura...love, Sasuke." She couldn't help but blush red. Naruto glared at the box.

"He DID send it! Just wait till I find him..."

"Naruto, we talked about this," Sakura said with a sigh. "You're not going to do anything to Sasuke, or everyone will know that we're dating. I don't like him, I like you, and nothing he does will change that!" She smiled at him. "In fact..." She shoved the box into Naruto's hands. "Here. I know how much you like chocolate." She looked around quickly to make sure they were alone, and pecked him on the lips. "See you tomorrow, Naruto."

Naruto stared at her, before he broke out into a grin. "Bye, Sakura-chan!" He turned and ran from the door quickly, the box still in his hand. Sakura laughed and went inside.

Sasuke looked from Sakura's front door to the fleeing Naruto, his face red. "I spent all my money on that!" he cried. "How dare she give it to Naruto!" He shook his head quickly to clear his thoughts. "Doesn't like me, eh? I'll show her...if being nice doesn't work...it's time to make her jealous!"

Ten minutes later, Sasuke could be found wandering the streets, looking from girl to girl. "Sakura was right...everyone does hate me here. The only girls I'll have a chance with are the ones I know personally, minus Ino." He looked around swiftly, spotting familiar buns on the back of a girl's head. He sped up, reaching her and tapping her on the shoulder. Tenten spun around with a huge grin. Her smile faded when she noticed it was him.

"Oh. Sasuke. What do you want?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Sasuke rubbed the back of his head. "Er...Tenten. I was wondering if you wanted to..."

He trailed off when he felt someone's breath on the back of his neck. "Uchiha. What are you doing talking to my girlfriend?"

A bead of sweat dropped down the back of Sasuke's head. He turned around slowly. "N-Neji...you're dating Tenten?" he asked nervously.

White eyes stared back at him. "Yes. Now would you please move?"

Sasuke stepped to the side quickly and Neji stood in front of Tenten with one arm behind his back. "I got these for you," Neji said stiffly, revealing a bouquet of flowers.

"Neji! They're so pretty!" Tenten cried, throwing her arms around him. Neji hugged her back awkwardly.

"Yes. Just like you," he said with absolutely no emotion.

Sasuke hurried away before he saw anything more. "God dammit! Just my luck! All that's left is Hinata!" He frowned. "Neji probably wouldn't enjoy it if I dated Hinata..." Sasuke thought. "Well, I still have to try...she's my only hope..." He scanned the crowd, but couldn't find Hinata. However, he did see the back of a boy's head, and it looked familiar...

"Shino!" Sasuke yelled, running up and grabbing him by the arm. Shino stared back at him through his sunglasses. "Do you know where Hinata is?" Sasuke asked.

Shino looked at him, and slowly replied, "What do you want with Hinata?"

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "I, uh...just wanted to talk to her about something..."

"Kiba wouldn't like that," Shino replied, seeing through his statement.

Sasuke glared at him. "Well I don't really give a damn what Kiba likes and dislikes, okay?" he replied angrily.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" came Kiba's voice from behind him. Sasuke sighed. Today was just not his day.

"Sasuke wants to talk to Hinata about 'something', as he put it," Shino told Kiba.

Kiba glared at Sasuke. "Why do you want to see Hinata?" he asked.

Sasuke glared back. "You know what? I don't give a shit whether you two know or not. I'm going to go ask Hinata out. Now tell me where she is!"

"The hell you are!" Kiba cried. "You're not getting the girl I like! I'll fight you if I have to!" He raised his fists threateningly, and Akamaru barked from beside him.

Sasuke smirked. "Oh please. Like you and that pathetic mutt could possibly defeat..."

"Kiba?" a shy voice called out from Sasuke's left. All three boys turned to see a blushing Hinata staring back at them.

Kiba's fists dropped to his sides and he blushed back. "Um...how long were you there?"

Hinata looked down at her feet and blushed darker, pressing her index fingers together nervously. "Kiba...I...um...I like you too."

Kiba's whole face went red and he took a step towards her. "You do?"

"OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Sasuke shouted, throwing his hands up in the air angrily. Everyone on that street turned to look at him. "There is no way in hell I'm dating Karin!"

Ten minutes later

"Sasuke? Sasuke?" Karin cried, wandering through a part of the woods that looked familiar. "Where are you, Sasuke?" She saw a clearing up ahead and ran to it, collapsing on the ground in the same training area she had been in the night before. "Where are you, Sasuke? I'm hungry and thirsty and tired..." She looked up to see a shaky image of Sasuke in front of her. "...and now I'm hallucinating!"

The shaky image got clearer as he came closer. Karin squinted. "Sasuke, is that really you?"

Sasuke sighed. "Karin, will you be my girlfriend?"


	4. Rock Lee's Gift

Sasuke spent the next three hours at the hospital with Karin, trying his best to act like a real boyfriend. Once she was given food and water and medicine to help her sleep, he left for his house, glancing at the clock on his way out.

"Ten o'clock..." he thought, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I wonder if I have enough time to stop at Sakura's before I get home. Her house is on the way, after all..." He studied his feet as they moved forward along the road. Several scenarios ran through his mind, and he searched for the one that he thought would make her the most jealous.

_Sasuke reached Sakura's house and rang the doorbell. A tired Sakura answered, rubbing her eyes. "Sasuke? What are you doing here?" she asked. _

_Sasuke smirked at her. "Just thought I'd tell you I have a girlfriend." _

_Sakura stared at him. "You woke me up for THAT?" She promptly slammed the door in his face. _

Sasuke scratched the back of his head. As much as he hated to admit it, that was exactly how it would probably go. "Nah...I'll wait until tomorrow...and when Naruto's not with her..." He frowned. "But they spend all their time together nowadays...I'm surprised nobody's figured it out yet..." He shook his head and shrugged, forming a plan as he walked the rest of the way home.

The next morning Sasuke was up bright and early, even going as far as setting his alarm the night before. He headed to his bathroom for a shower, taking the time to fix his hair afterwards. After deciding he looked even better than usual, Sasuke got dressed and practically ran out the door. He jogged all the way to Sakura's house, and was almost there when he turned a corner and ran straight into Karin.

"What are you doing here? Finally get out of the hospital?" Sasuke asked with a scowl, forgetting that he was supposed to be her boyfriend.

"Sasuke, you silly-willy!" Karin cooed, pinching his cheek. Sasuke went red. "I was coming to see you, of course! Wow...you look so nice! What are you doing up so early?"

Sasuke shrugged nervously. "Uh...going to see you," he thought up.

Karin grinned. "Aw, that's so sweet of you!" She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, and Sasuke looked down at her unpleasantly. "So Sasuke, I was thinking we should do something special for our first date!"

Sasuke contorted his face into what he thought might look similar to a smile, and managed a quick, "Of course."

"I knew you'd agree!" Karin cried, standing on her toes to try and kiss him. Sasuke noticed and quickly grabbed her shoulders, holding her back. She frowned. "What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?"

A thousand excuses flew through Sasuke's mind. "Uh...I didn't brush my teeth this morning," he lied. Sasuke grit his teeth and mentally reprimanded himself. Out of anything he could have said...

Karin blinked at him. "That IS kind of gross...but I don't mind!" She leaned in again, and Sasuke stopped her quickly.

"Er...I'm hungry! Aren't you hungry? Let's go get something to eat!" Sasuke cried suddenly, grabbing her hand and pulling her in a random direction.

"Sasuke, it's too early! Nothing's open yet!" Karin complained, abandoning her attempts to kiss him.

Sasuke grinned. It may not have happened exactly the way he'd planned it, but... "Well, why don't we go see one of my friends, then? That'll pass the time!"

"But I don't wanna go see your friends!" Karin tried to pull away.

"Of course you do! It would make me happy." He looked at her innocently. "Don't you want me to be happy, Karin?"

Karin looked at him with a wistful sigh. "Of course I do, Sasuke!"

Sasuke's innocent look was immediately replaced with a demanding glare. "Good. Then we're going to Sakura's."

Karin frowned as he led her towards the house. "Her? Why do we have to see HER?"

"She's closest. And she wakes up the earliest," Sasuke lied.

"Hmph. Well...I guess that makes sense..." Karin said with a frown.

They reached the house and Sasuke rang the doorbell. After a moment he heard footsteps, and the door was wrenched open. "Naruto! I told you not to wake me up so early!" Sakura eyes widened. "Sasuke..." she said nervously. "What are you doing here?" She spotted Karin. "Oh...hi," she said, a bit more relieved.

"We just thought we'd stop by to say hi," Sasuke said, flashing her a smile. Sakura blinked at him like he had two heads.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" she asked.

The grin was wiped from Sasuke's face. "Uh...no reason. Anyway, I just thought I'd say hi to you, and I brought my GIRLFRIEND Karin along!" He pulled Karin to him and wrapped his arm around her, trying to keep from frowning. "_Make this look convincing, Uchiha..." _

Karin sighed happily and leaned against him.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You have a girlfriend now?" She thought she had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Sasuke nodded. "Yup. Does that...bother you in any way?"

Sakura's eyebrow went higher. Now she KNEW what was going on. She smirked at him. "No...why?"

A small frown flitted across Sasuke's face for a moment before he returned to normal. "Just wondering." He pulled Karin even more tightly against himself, even running a hand through her hair. "But yeah, we're dating. Happily."

"Mmmhmm..." Sakura said, crossing her arms.

Sasuke frowned. "What? Don't believe me?"

Sakura smirked at him and shook her head.

Sasuke glared. "Why not?"

She shrugged and looked away. "I just don't."

Sasuke's frown deepened, and Karin looked at Sakura angrily. "What, does he have to convince you now?" Karin said angrily.

The edge of Sakura's mouth twitched upwards slightly. "Kiss."

"WHAT?" Sasuke's eyes bugged out of his head.

"I said: kiss. Then I'll believe you."

Sasuke's eye twitched. This was NOT going the way he'd planned. But he couldn't back out now...or Sakura would know he was only trying to make her jealous. And his pride would be completely crushed.

He turned slowly towards a grinning Karin, who was already leaning in. Sasuke shut his eyes unpleasantly and puckered his lips. "Pretend it's Sakura, pretend it's Sakura..." he thought frantically.

He had intended for it to be a light peck on the lips, but apparently Karin had other plans. Sasuke's eyes jerked open when he felt something wet against his lips, and he gasped in surprise, which he soon realized was a HUGE mistake. He waved his arms around in circles frantically, but Karin grabbed his face and held him to her.

Finally she released him with a loud smacking sound, and Sasuke fled from the room and into the nearest bathroom, where a puking noise could be heard. Both girls stared in his direction humorously.

"Poor Sasuke, that was probably his first REAL kiss," Karin said with a smile. "I bet I made him nervous!"

Sakura hid her grin. "You sure did."

Sasuke came out frowning and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "We're leaving," he said bluntly, grabbing Karin's wrist and pulling her out the door without another word. Sakura watched them go with a small smile on her face.

"Just wait until I tell Naruto about this."

As soon as they were out of Sakura's view, Sasuke stopped and turned to face a joyous Karin.

"Where are we going next, Sasuke!" she cried.

"Nowhere!" he exclaimed, releasing her hand. "We are going nowhere together!"

Karin's looked up at him sadly. "W-why not?"

Sasuke glared at her. "I don't like you! I never liked you! I like Sakura, and I just used you to make her jealous, okay?! So please, just GO AWAY!"

Karin stared at him. Her lip slowly began to tremble, and Sasuke quickly changed his expression. "Look, I'm sorry Karin, I've just had a bad couple days. I didn't mean to make you cr..."

"I'm not crying!" Karin shouted angrily. "I can't believe you used me! You...you...ASSHOLE!"

At this point all Sasuke could do was sigh and wait for the pain to come.

And come it did. But not exactly in the place he had expected.

Sasuke let out a high pitched squeak and fell to the ground as Karin walked away with a satisfied smile.

He stuck his hands between his legs and hissed, lying there for a few minutes. Finally, he found the strength to get up and limp over to a nearby bench, collapsing on it with a grunt and leaning his head back so he could stare up at the sky.

A soft humming came from somewhere nearby, and Sasuke sat up and looked around, spotting Naruto walking nearby. Naruto doubled back after passing a bloomed flower, staring at it for a second. After a moment, he smiled, bending over and picking it up. "Sakura'll like this. And it's perfect to give to her before our date at the carnival today!" Naruto frowned for a moment. "Too bad we'll have to act like we're just friends the entire time..." He kicked a pebble. "I just wish we could tell everyone...but I want Sakura to be happy too, and she doesn't want anyone to know just yet..."

Sasuke watched him silently, but Naruto didn't seem to notice him, and continued on his way towards Sakura's house. Sasuke frowned. "Date at the carnival, eh?" He looked down at his knees in thought. "I should follow them and ruin it. Yeah." He complimented himself on his brilliance, getting up and creeping after Naruto silently. When Naruto reached Sakura's house, Sasuke hid at his usual place. Earlier when he had seen her, Sakura had been in her pajamas. But now she was all ready to go, it seemed, and Sasuke saw her grin and take the flower from Naruto, quickly pulling him inside.

He waited for a few minutes, and eventually they both came back out. Sasuke frowned when he saw Sakura trying to fix her now messed up hair. Eventually Naruto and Sakura were on their way, with Sasuke trailing them carefully.

"I can't believe I didn't know about this thing," Sasuke thought as they arrived at the carnival. Luckily, he had brought his wallet, and was able to get in behind the couple. "So this is where everyone's been this morning...I thought maybe nobody was up yet..."

Almost immediately, Naruto and Sakura were lost in the crowd. Sasuke looked for them frantically, to no avail, but he could hear a familiar voice calling out from nearby.

"Free love potion! It works, I swear! Take it!" Sasuke spotted Rock Lee on the side of the road, waving something in his hand at random people, who just shook their heads and ignored him.

"Love potion..." Sasuke thought. He approached Rock Lee suspiciously. "What's this about a love potion?"

"Sasuke!" Rock Lee cried. He shoved the potion into Sasuke's hands. "You have to take this from me!"

"Why don't you want it, if it works?" Sasuke asked.

Rock Lee's eyes widened. "I just wanted to test it...for laughs, you know? I found it in a garbage can yesterday. I only took a drop of it. Just a drop. But when I looked up at Gai-sensei..." Hearts replaced Rock Lee's eyes.

"Lee..." Sasuke said nervously, shoving the boy lightly. Lee came out of his trance.

"See? See what it does? I didn't read the directions until afterwards! You fall in love with the first person you look at! For a whole day!" Lee shuddered. "I have to avoid sensei today...or else I might..." He gulped. "I mean...I...gah!" He grabbed his head in frustration. "I kissed Gai-sensei, Sasuke! KISSED HIM! I can hardly believe it myself, but I did it!" Rock Lee's face went green.

Sasuke looked at him strangely. "Well...can I have it?"

Lee nodded quickly. "Of course! Take it! I never want to see it again!"

Sasuke shrugged and looked at the bottle, slowly walking away.

"THANK YOU!" Lee called after him.

Sasuke was too immersed in his own thoughts to reply.

**(A/N: Don't worry, it'll ALL go wrong, LOL.)**


	5. Sasuke's Final Plot

After searching for a few minutes, Sasuke finally spotted Sakura and Naruto sitting at a table, apparently having lunch. With them was Kiba, Hinata, Ino, and Shikamaru. "Hey." Sasuke approached them. Six heads turned to face him.

"Sasuke. What are you doing here?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth.

Sasuke frowned. "I just heard there was a carnival and thought I'd go today. And then I saw you six sitting here, and thought maybe I'd join you," he lied, quickly dropping the potion into his pocket.

"Sure Sasuke, you can sit with us," Sakura said, much to Ino's, Kiba's, and Naruto's dismay, and Shikamaru's annoyance. Sasuke took a seat next to Hinata silently. "So...I heard about your breakup with Karin..." Sakura started.

Sasuke looked at her with interest. "Who told you?" he asked nervously.

"Tenten did, actually. She's here somewhere with Neji, I think. Anyway, she passed by Karin on the way here and asked why she seemed so happy, and Karin told her the whole story. And Tenten told me just a few minutes ago."

"The...whole...story?" Sasuke looked at her anxiously. "All of it?"

"Well...I suppose not. Just that you broke up with her and she hit you below the belt."

Sasuke winced despite his relief. "Oh...well, yes, that's pretty much what happened. It just wasn't working out."

"How long were you dating, then? One day?" Kiba pointed out sourly.

Sasuke scowled. "That's not important."

There was an awkward silence as everyone else ate their food. Sakura took a sip of her drink and frowned, turning to Naruto. "Hey Naruto, do you mind getting me a refill?"

"I"ll do it," Sasuke quickly interupted, ignoring Naruto's glare. "What are you drinking?"

Sakura gave him a strange look, but shrugged. "Coke. I bought it over there." She pointed to a nearby stand. Sasuke grabbed her cup and headed that way, and after a quick argument over whether the stand offered free refills or not, Sakura's cup was refilled. Sasuke checked to make sure nobody was looking, before swiftly taking out the bottle and dumping every drop of potion into the cup. He smiled to himself and returned to the table, handing Sakura the cup with a smile.

"Here you go!" He stood in front of her as she took a sip, and Sakura gave him a strange look.

"Sasuke, aren't you going to sit down?"

Sasuke scratched the back of his head. "Why isn't it working?" he thought. Suddenly, Sakura's eyes snapped shut and she gripped her head. Everyone at the table turned to look at her. Sasuke inwardly smirked, but put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Sakura, are you oka..."

Naruto came barreling towards him from the side and knocked him out of the way, taking his spot in front of Sakura. "I can handle this!" He spit out in a horrified Sasuke's direction. "Are you okay, Sakura?"

Sakura shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, and her eyes slowly opened to meet Naruto's. Sasuke saw them glaze over immediately, and Sakura blushed up at Naruto, giving him a cute smile. "Of course I am. Why do you ask?"

Naruto blinked at her. "Well...you were just holding your head like you were hurt, and so I thought maybe you..."

He was cut off as Sakura leaned swiftly forward and pecked him on the lips, pulling away and giggling like a maniac.

Naruto stared at her in shock, along with the other five shinobi. "Sakura!" he whispered. "I thought you didn't want anyone to know!"

"Know what, silly?" Sakura said loudly. "That I'm totally and completely in love with Naruto Uzumaki?"

The other four at the table gaped at the couple, while Sasuke glared at them angrily. "What the hell?! That was supposed to be me! What am I supposed to do to get Sakura to love me?" He sighed. "Well...nothing will work for the rest of the day, so I need to spend the time thinking of something else... this plan went down the tubes pretty quickly, I'd say...and I used up all of the potion!" He ran a hand through his hair and watched Naruto's reaction.

Naruto went from confusion, to disbelief, to finally happiness in less than ten seconds. "Well, if you don't mind then..." He pulled Sakura up off of her seat and planted her in front of him, pressing his lips against hers.

Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Hinata watched in shock as their two friends made out in front of them.

"I didn't see that coming..." Kiba commented.

"Unexpected things are such a drag..."

"K-Kiba-kun, isn't is so cute?"

Ino jumped up happily. "Sakura got a boyfriend!" she cried, wrapping her arms around the kissing couple with a grin.

"Get off!" Naruto muttered, pushing her away and returning his hand to Sakura's waist. Ino frowned and sat back down.

Sasuke watched them with disgust. "Naruto's such an idiot...how could she possibly like him? Well...if Sakura's into idiots..." He frowned. As much as he was going to hate doing this..."I guess I'll have to act like one..." Sasuke waved a quick goodbye to the four that would actually notice his departure, fleeing the carnival rapidly.

The next morning, Sasuke found out quickly that almost everyone knew of Sakura's and Naruto's relationship. As expected, Sakura had returned to normal, and he could guess that she had NOT been pleased with what she had found out. Sasuke realized that he had been right: it would be even harder to break them up now that everyone knew about them. Still, he had to try.

He spotted Sakura having lunch with Naruto at Ichiraku's later that day, and decided to put his plan into action. "Hey, Sakura-chan!" Sasuke cried right in her ear when he reached them.

Sakura jumped about a foot off her seat. "Sasuke, what the hell do you want now? I'm already in a bad mood as it is."

Sasuke's grin faded ever so slightly, but he had to keep his act going. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go for some ramen! Er...believe it!"

Sakura's eye twitched. "I'm already eating ramen with NARUTO, my BOYFRIEND...whichallofKonohanowknows..." She muttered the last part.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "Why are you stealing my catchphrase!?"

Sasuke glared back. "I am NOT stealing your catchphrase! It's a phrase I just happen to like, too!"

"That's bull and you know it!"

"Is not!"

Sakura sighed and put her hands over her ears.

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Fuck this, I can't do it anymore," Sasuke said aloud, turning around and walking away from an extremely confused Naruto. If there was one feat Sasuke Uchiha would admit to be incapable of, it was acting like Naruto.

"What now? I've tried charm, jealousy, love potions, acting like her boyfriend...what next? The only thing I could possibly do now is to kill Naruto or something!"

Sasuke stopped in his tracks, his eyes clouding over darkly. "Could I? Could I really kill Naruto?" Sasuke shook his head and the darkness disappeared. He smiled to himself. "Of course I couldn't, not now! Sakura would be heartbroken! I couldn't do that to her..."

He sighed. There was only one real choice left. He had to just come straight out and say it...one more time. But this time he would make it special. He could ask her out for a friendly get-together, but once they were alone in a romantic setting there was no way she would be able to resist his charms. Sasuke grinned. Yes, that was it. Stalking her late at night and then confessing his feelings hadn't been the best thing to do, and surely this way would be better.

Sasuke hurried away from Ichiraku's, putting all thoughts of Naruto and everyone else except Sakura out of his head. He WOULD get that date.

**I know it's short, but this was a good place to end it :)**


	6. A Date Gone Wrong

The rest of Sasuke's day was spent shopping.

Yes, Sasuke Uchiha was actually shopping. Scented candles, fancy food, and nice clothes were for the most part what he bought that day.

It was night when he had finished setting everything up at the training grounds, where he had decided their "friendly gathering" would take place. It was only a few minutes away from where Sakura lived, so the walk wouldn't be far. Sasuke left everything there, heading to Sakura's house. By now, he figured, she would probably be home, but hopefully not asleep.

He looked at the fancy new watch he had bought as he arrived at her front door. "Seven o'clock. Perfect." He knocked lightly on the door.

After a moment, a confused Sakura Haruno answered. "Sasuke? What are you doing here?"

Sasuke gave her a light smile. "Come with me. I want to show you something."

Sakura frowned as he reached for her hand and pulled her out of the door. "Sasuke, where are you taking me? And...why the hell are you wearing those clothes?" She gasped, and her eyes widened. Jerking her hand out of his and stopping in the middle of the road, Sakura cried, "Sasuke, I am NOT going to go on a date with you! I'm dating Naruto! I'm not interested, okay?"

Sasuke ignored her, scooping her up in his arms forcefully and carrying her instead.

Sakura struggled in his arms and finally growled, punching him in the chest. It appeared not to have even hurt him. "Let me go!"

"Nope. I have something very nice set up for you at the training grounds, and I want you to come see it."

Sakura sighed angrily and went limp in his arms. "As soon as you set me down, I'll run!"

Sasuke didn't reply.

After a few more minutes, Sasuke arrived at the training grounds and walked through the woods to the clearing where he had first been reunited with Naruto and Sakura.

Sakura gasped at what she saw.

A picnic blanket was laid neatly on the ground and two plates of food were on top of it, along with two glasses of wine. Vanilla scented candles littered the ground, and lastly (Sakura wasn't sure whether this added to the romance or completely ruined it) Rock Lee stood next to the blanket, playing lightly on a violin.

Sakura stared at the boy. "Rock Lee?"

Rock Lee stopped playing and looked up at her. "Oh, hey Sakura, Sasuke found out I can play the violin and black-"

Sasuke cut him off by mouthing the words, "Gai-sensei..."

"Black...ened my coffee!" Rock Lee exclaimed. "Yup, I drink my coffee black, and Sasuke made it for me! So in return I agreed to play for you guys today!"

Sasuke nodded silently while Rock Lee looked at them nervously, before returning to his playing.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Okay..."

"Well, here we are. Can I put you down or will you run? I'm sure you remember that I'm faster than you."

Sakura glared at him. "Fine, I won't try and run. But be honest...this is a date, isn't it?"

Sasuke put her down on the blanket and blinked, choosing his words carefully. "This is...me spending time with you, who is my friend, and having dinner together. With some candles and Rock Lee playing the violin."

"I know what we're doing, Sasuke. But I want to know if you consider it a date."

Sasuke sat down across from her and scratched his neck. "If you do."

"Well...I don't."

"Okay, then neither do I. Wine?" he asked, pointing to her glass.

Sakura looked down at it. "We're too young to drink."

"It's only a little. We're not going to get drunk."

Sakura blushed at the image of herself and Sasuke drunk together. "Er...thanks but no thanks."

Sasuke shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, taking a sip.

Sakura looked from him to her plate of food suspiciously. "I know you put the love potion in my drink yesterday, Sasuke," she said suddenly.

Sasuke went red and spit out the wine. "What? Uh...I...how did you know?"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. You were the only one who touched my drink." She smirked. "Plan didn't work out how you wanted, huh?"

Sasuke glared at her. "If Naruto hadn't pushed me out of the way..."

"...then I would have killed you as soon as it wore off. You're lucky."

Sasuke scoffed. "Please. You would have realized how much you loved me and came running into my arms, leaving Naruto behind!"

Sakura scowled at him. "Is that really how things work in your little fantasy world, Sasuke?"

Sasuke frowned and took another sip of his drink. "Are you going to eat?" he asked.

"If you switch plates with me I will."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and switched them, grabbing his fork and taking a bite of the shrimp he had bought. He grabbed his head suddenly, opening his eyes after a moment and looking at a random tree.

"Oh tree...tall, sexy tree..." Sasuke cried, running over and wrapping his arms around it, much to his own amusement and Sakura's annoyance.

"It was NOT like that," she told him, trying to suppress a smile as Sasuke pretended to lick the bark. "Stop it, you're acting like Naruto!"

Sasuke frowned and immediately turned to look at her. "Already tried that. Didn't work." He walked back over to her and sat down again.

"So that's what was wrong with you this morning. You gave up pretty easily."

"I have a feeling Naruto would have sat there and argued for hours, so I ended it before that could happen."

"He probably would have..." Sakura said thoughtfully.

Sasuke finished the rest of his food and moved his plate, lying down on his side and looking at her. "What do you like about him so much?"

Sakura sighed happily. "I don't know...just, everything I guess. He's annoying sometimes, but he has a sense of humor too...and he cares about me a lot; all of these years he's cared about me more than anything, and after a while...I started to care about him, too." She blushed.

Sasuke noticed the violin still playing and said, "Hey, Rock Lee, thanks for coming, but you can go now."

"Yes!" Rock Lee cried, dropping the violin and running off. Sakura watched him with raised eyebrows.

Sasuke looked back at Sakura seriously. "What else?"

She blinked thoughtfully. "I know you don't really want to hear everything, but I could go on and on, maybe forever...I love him, Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes softened and filled with hurt. "And all of that is what makes him better than me?"

Sakura smiled. "Not better. Just...he's special to me. That doesn't mean I don't care about you. I do, just in a different way."

Sasuke got up and scooted closer to her, looking at her lustfully. "Why can't I be special?" he whispered.

Sakura shivered, noticing his expression and looking away nervously. "Sasuke...please, don't start this. Maybe three years ago...but now...I can't, okay?"

She felt a pair of lips on her neck. "Why not?" Sasuke murmured.

Meanwhile, Naruto was ready to have dinner. As usual, he opened his fridge, looking for ramen. "Noooooooo!" he cried, slamming the door shut. "I'm out of ramen!" He opened his pantry to see if there was any in there. It was empty. Naruto searched the rest of the house frantically, to no avail. "I MUST have ramen!" he exclaimed, running to the front door and grabbing his shoes on the way. "To the store!"

Sakura shook her head and pushed Sasuke away without looking at him. "Stop it, Sasuke! Why do you have to keep doing this? Just go find someone else, okay?" She turned to face him, and Sasuke saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"Remember what you felt three years ago, Sakura?" Sasuke asked. "Remember how you kept pursuing me just like I'm doing to you right now? I always ignored you; I was an idiot back then. But now...just picture what it would be like..."

Uncertainty clouded Sakura's eyes as she looked into his. "I...I can't do that to Naruto, okay? I can't do it."

"Naruto will find someone else. He'll move on..." Sasuke whispered, leaning forward.

"No, he won't. Hinata's dating Kiba, Ino's dating Shikamaru...everyone's taken."

"That means there's nobody for me either," Sasuke pointed out.

Sakura blinked up at him. He had moved closer. "You have Karin."

"I don't want Karin, Sakura. I want you." Sasuke leaned in roughly and met her lips, but Sakura pushed him back by his shoulders, standing up swiftly.

"Stay away from me."

Sasuke looked up at her angrily. "I'm faster than you."

"I don't have to be faster. I just have to be able to fight."

Sasuke was up and in front of her in a second. "I'm also stronger."

Sakura found herself laughing darkly. "I seriously doubt that."

They looked at each other, and before she could blink Sasuke had her up against a tree and both hands pinned above her head. "Doubt it now?" he asked, leaning towards her again. Sakura kneed him in the groin angrily and he collapsed on the ground, gasping.

She took off through the trees at top speed, reaching the road in a matter of seconds. Sakura looked up and down the street anxiously. It was now fully dark; nobody would be outside this late. She heard footsteps from behind her. Sasuke had apparently recovered. Before she could think about it, Sakura took off to her right, Sasuke following beside her in the woods.

"I said stay away!" Sakura growled loudly.

"You don't mean that. You love me, Sakura. I know you do."

Sakura glared in his direction, failing to noticed the person standing in the road in front of her. "You're crazy!" she exclaimed. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she slammed into the person, falling to the ground.

Sakura sat up quickly, coming face to face with a bewildered Naruto, who was holding a cup of ramen in his hand. "Naruto!" she cried, crawling over to him and wrapping her arms around him.

Sasuke watched angrily from the shadows.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked. "What are you doing out so late?"

Sakura closed her eyes and breathed in his scent. "It was horrible. Sasuke..."

Naruto hopped up at the sound of Sasuke's name. "Sasuke? What did he do to you?" He pulled Sakura up off the ground.

"He...um..." Sakura didn't want to tell him the whole story. He would overreact completely, and she didn't want either he or Sasuke getting hurt. It wasn't that big of deal. Sasuke wasn't REALLY going to do anything to her. Right? "He...kissed me..." Sakura finished.

Naruto grit his teeth and gripped her arms tightly. "He did WHAT?"

Sakura looked away nervously. "It wasn't that big of a deal...I just pushed him off and that was it, he didn't try anything else." She was lying through her teeth, and she knew it.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her protectively, burying his face in her neck. "I'm so sorry, Sakura...he's not here right now, is he?"

"I don't think so..." Sakura replied honestly, figuring Sasuke had left when she ran into Naruto.

"Alright." Naruto released her. "I'm not so sure about him anymore, though. Doing all these things to try and get you to like him... Listen, Sakura...I was thinking...would you spend the night at my house tonight? Just so I can protect you? It makes me nervous to think of you all by yourself tonight."

"My parents will be there," Sakura pointed out.

"Yeah, but..." Naruto blushed. "Not in the same room."

Sakura's cheeks went pink. "U-um...well...are you sure they won't worry about me?"

"They'll understand if we explain it to them tomorrow. Please?" Naruto asked. "For one night?"

Sakura finally smiled shyly. "Okay, for one night. Just for one night."

Sasuke watched angrily as Sakura and Naruto walked away, hand in hand.

He pictured everything in his head. Yes, that was perfect. Sasuke already had the entire thing planned out and implanted into his memory. With Naruto gone, Sakura would realize who she truly loved. Everything would become clear to her, as long as Naruto was out of the way. A dark smile replaced Sasuke's frown. Tomorrow night, while he was asleep, Naruto Uzumaki's ceiling was going to mysteriously collapse on him, and it would kill him instantly.


	7. An Impending Attack

When they reached Naruto's house, he opened the door silently and led Sakura inside. "Here we are."

Sakura played with the end of her shirt nervously. "Yup." She looked down. "Um...I didn't bring any pajamas or anything, so..."

"That's ok. You can wear something of mine."

"Are you sure? It might not fit..."

Naruto smiled at her. "It's fine. They might be a little too big, but..."

"Well, I can sleep in my shorts. All I really need is a comfortable shirt."

"No problem." He left the room and came back a minute later with a large t-shirt. "Here. You can go change in the bathroom."

"Thanks," Sakura replied, taking the shirt and following his finger to a door down the hallway. She quickly changed in the bathroom, and when she came back Naruto had set up a blanket on the living room couch and was practically chugging his ramen down.

He finished the ramen, noticed her staring and blushed. "Um...you don't mind if we both sleep on the couch, do you? My room's kind of messy and you probably wouldn't want to go in there."

She shrugged and gave him a shy smile. "I don't mind."

Naruto grinned back at her. "Great! Well, um..." They both stared down at the couch. "Uh...I guess I'll just..." Naruto looked from her to the couch awkwardly, before plopping down on it and lying down with his legs stretched out in front of him. After spending a moment getting comfortable, he looked up at Sakura and patted the tiny area he had left open.

Sakura walked over nervously and sat down next to him, scooting herself into the small space and then lying down parallel to him. They faced each other and put their heads on the pillow. "This is really small," Sakura said with a laugh.

Naruto beamed at her. "I can smell your breath, Sakura-chan," he said to emphasize how cramped it was.

She looked at him anxiously. "Does it smell okay?"

"Like shrimp." Sakura frowned and buried her head in his chest without another word. Naruto laid a hand softly on her head, looking down at her. "What's wrong?"

A muffled sniff came from Sakura. "I had shrimp with Sasuke."

Naruto gave her an empathetic look and moved his other hand to rub her back softly. "Something happened, Sakura. Tell me what he did."

"I already told you. He just kissed me, that was it. Then he backed off!"

He felt his shirt dampen. "If that was all that happened you wouldn't be crying. You're my best friend and my girlfriend, and I really care about you. Please tell me."

Sakura sniffed again. "It was nothing, really. I don't know why I'm so upset. It's just...he wouldn't back off! I pushed him away and stood up, and he...pinned me to a tree and tried to kiss me again. Then I got away and ran, and it was so dark...I thought nobody would be out that late and he would get me!" There was silence for a moment.

"...he's a dead man."

Sakura looked up at him, surprised. "No! Don't go picking a fight with him, Naruto!" She wrapped her arms around him tightly and his eyes widened in surprise. "I don't care about what happens to me. He won't do anything to SERIOUSLY hurt me, he l..." She forced herself to finish the sentence. "...loves me..." Sakura spit out. "But he doesn't care about you. I think he might do something to hurt you."

Naruto looked down at her gently. "I can handle Sasuke. Especially if it means protecting you. I'll guard you with my life, Sakura. I would die for you."

Sakura avoided his eyes. "I don't want you living up to those promises, Naruto. I...I'd rather die than live my life without you."

She could almost feel his smile on her. "Three years ago could you have imagined yourself saying that to me?"

She was caught between smiling and frowning at him. "Three years ago I would have rather killed Kakashi-sensei than say that to you."

Naruto chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her even tighter against his chest. "I swear, if Sasuke dropped dead right now, our lives would be perfect. No offense to him or anything."

Sakura glared at him. "Naruto! That's a horrible thing to say!"

"Horrible but true. Face it Sakura, he's gone off the deep end."

Sakura sighed. "I don't want to talk about Sasuke anymore. Let's talk about something happier."

"Or we don't have to talk at all..."

Sakura looked up at him and glared. "What's that supposed to mean, you don't want to talk to m..."

Naruto cut her off with a tender kiss, pouring everything he felt into it. Sakura could almost feel herself melting.

He pulled away and grinned at her. "I love you."

Sakura's eyes fluttered open and she blinked at him. "No more talking..." She leaned forward again, losing all ability to think when Naruto deepened the kiss a few seconds later. "Naruto...you're the most...amazing person...I've ever met..." She muttered between kisses. She felt him grin against her lips.

"Now you taste like ramen."

Sakura giggled. "I love you too, Naruto." She pulled away slowly and they smiled at each other.

"Well...I guess it's time to go to sleep," Naruto pointed out, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah." Sakura settled herself against him and laid her head back down on the pillow. "Good night, Naruto."

"Good night, Sakura."

The next morning, Sakura woke up to the sound of something hissing. Her first instinct was to hop up, grab a kunai, and start slashing at stuff, preferably at some snakes, but then she remembered where she was and noticed Naruto wasn't lying next to her. Instead he was in the kitchen, and the source of the hissing was the bacon he was making.

"Oh, you're up!" Naruto cried, seeing her sit up. "I'm making breakfast!"

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "You can cook?"

"Of course. I occasionally eat something other than ramen. I've had three non-ramen meals this week!"

"It's Saturday." Sakura got up and walked over to him, kissing him on the cheek and examining the cooking bacon.

Naruto frowned. "That's not the point."

The bacon finished cooking and Naruto split it up on two plates.

"Don't you normally have eggs or something with this?" Sakura asked, taking her plate.

"One miracle at a time," Naruto replied. Sakura rolled her eyes.

When they finished eating and got dressed, Naruto ran out the front door with Sakura hurrying to keep up.

"Where shall we go today?" Naruto asked, hooking her arm with his formally.

"I don't know, where do you want to go?" Sakura replied cheerfully.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Sasuke Uchiha was following them once again. "He thinks he's so great..." Sasuke thought, staring at Naruto. His eye twitched uncontrollably. "He won't be so great when I squash him like a bug tonight. Then Sakura will be all MINE!" He coughed quietly to hold back an evil laugh, and then crouched in his hiding place as Sakura turned around.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" Naruto replied. Sakura studied the area behind them for a moment.

"Nothing. Never mind..." she said after a second. They continued walking. After a minute of silence, Sakura leaned over and whispered, "Sasuke's following us. Act normal."

Naruto's eyes widened and he unhooked their arms so he could wrap his arm around her tightly, but otherwise acted the same. "What are we going to do?" he whispered back.

"I don't know. Maybe we could lose him in a crowd. Let's go towards the center of the village."

Naruto nodded and they changed direction. After a few minutes, more and more people could be seen on the streets, until eventually there were too many people to count. Simultaneously, both Sakura and Naruto took off at a run into the crowd, and Sasuke quickly lost sight of them.

"Damn...I was hoping to catch Sakura alone, but she'll probably be with Naruto all day. Well then, until tonight..." He shrank back from the mob and in a flash was running down another street.

After a minute of running, Naruto and Sakura stopped and put their hands on their knees. "Do you think we lost him?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. I think so," Sakura huffed.

"Hey, there's the cute couple!" a voice called out from nearby.

Sakura clapped a hand to her forehead, forcing a smile and turning around to meet a grinning Ino and a very tired Shikamaru head on. "Hey Ino."

"Hey! How are you guys doing? I was looking for you at your house this morning, Sakura, but your mom said you never came home last night!" She smirked suggestively at Sakura and Naruto.

Sakura chose to ignore the comment. "Well, what are you two doing here?"

"Shopping, of course!" Ino cried, gesturing towards Shikamaru, who was currently carrying around a dozen bags. "Care to join us?"

Sakura and Naruto met eyes, and both of them shrugged. "Sure," Sakura replied. "It'll give us something to do."

Naruto walked over to Shikamaru. "Here, I'll carry some of these."

"Thank...you..." Shikamaru gasped. Naruto nodded his response.

And that was how the two spent the rest of the day, window-shopping and watching Ino pile more and more bags into Shikamaru's hands. However, neither of them was expecting the attack that came that night.


	8. The Uchiha Strikes

**Warning: Someone might die in this chapter. -grins evilly- But who will it be? Actually, I have no idea yet. I'm completely writing this as I go along. I just know someone might end up dying. Just to warn everyone. :)**

It was night.

A dark-haired boy crept silently down the road, a pouch of weapons on his hip and a kunai in his hand. It was time to put his plan into action.

It took a while to get to Naruto's house. He passed Sakura's on the way, wondering what she would think when she heard about Naruto's death.

Sasuke shook his head. Of course she would be happy, once he was there to console her. Everything would be perfect. As long as nothing happened that night to change the circumstances, Naruto's death would look like an accident. Nobody would suspect Sasuke's involvement.

He reached the small home, peeking into a few windows at random until he spotted Naruto's room. The boy was asleep, a small smile on his face. Sasuke smirked. He wasn't going to be smiling for much longer.

He jumped onto the roof without a sound, thrusting his kunai into it and beginning to saw through the solid material. "I have to make this look good..." he thought, making the cuts more jagged so they would look natural. Finally a large piece was completely cut out right above Naruto's bed, and Sasuke had to hold it up so it wouldn't fall down, sticking the kunai back in his pouch. He had to make sure this was fatal, and they only way to do that was to throw the piece of ceiling at him. Maneuvering himself down through the roof and into Naruto's bedroom with the piece held over his head, Sasuke blinked at Naruto and grit his teeth. "Damn...this thing is heavy."

Sasuke stumbled a bit, trying to get his bearings without waking Naruto up, and finally settled on setting the piece against the wall where it would fit and taking a quick breather. After all, there was nobody else around. As long as he didn't wake Naruto up, he was in no danger of getting caught.

He bent over, placing his hands on his knees and resisting the urge to gasp, breathing silently instead. It had taken a lot of effort to move a piece of the ceiling. Glancing back up at Naruto quickly, Sasuke saw that he was still asleep.

Sasuke looked back and forth between Naruto and the ceiling piece. His eyebrows furrowed. "You know what? Who says this can't look like a murder. I mean...nobody would be able to prove it was me. And I'm not sure I have the strength to throw that thing at him." He took a kunai out of his pouch and twirled it around his finger. "One quick stab in the chest is all it would take...one slash to the throat...one cut to the head...much easier than crushing him." He took a menacing step towards the sleeping boy, raising the kunai. After a moment of hesitation, he finished the walk to the bed. Sasuke eyed Naruto, the kunai hovering over several spots on his body. "Heart, brain, neck, his main artery...lungs..."

He paused. "Neck." Slowly his hand moved so that the kunai was positioned an inch from Naruto's throat. "Say goodbye, Naruto."

A soft thump came from next to him. Sasuke immediately withdrew the kunai and looked down. About a centimeter from his right foot sat a shuriken, which was now stuck in the floor.

He looked up through the hole in the ceiling to see someone standing on the roof. "S-Sakura...what are you doing here?" Sasuke asked with wide eyes. She did NOT look happy.

"Get away from him, now," she growled, raising another shuriken.

Sasuke's eyes returned to normal, and then slowly they narrowed. "No." He dodged the second shuriken, and then in a flash he was back by Naruto's bed, and the kunai was by his throat again. He stared up at Sakura, who was watching him warily.

"Sasuke...you don't want to do this." She mentally berated herself. Those were the only weapons she had brought in her haste to follow Sasuke.

Sasuke laughed quietly. "Oh, I definitely do. I want you, he's in the way. I eliminate the threat."

Sakura grit her teeth, then something in her eyes changed. She knew what she had to do. "Alright, Sasuke..." She sighed, hopping down through the hole and landed a few feet away from him. Sasuke watched her carefully.

"Alright what?" he asked, reaching for a second kunai with his other hand, prepared to defend himself.

"Wait!" Sakura cried hastily. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and stopped. "Um...that won't be necessary."

He watched her suspiciously. "Why not?"

"I'll...be your girlfriend Sasuke. Just don't kill Naruto."

A wide grin spread across Sasuke's face. "You will? Really?"

"Mmmhmm..." Sakura replied absentmindedly, concentrating on Naruto's face behind Sasuke. "Wake up, dammit!" she thought. Sakura held back another sigh. She had hoped it wouldn't have to come to this...

Sakura walked slowly over to Sasuke, who was still grinning, and pressed her lips to his. Sasuke immediately jerked forward, wrapping both of his arms around her and deepening the kiss.

Sakura tried not to get sick, and instead focused on her hands. One was in his hair, and the other one was slowly moving down his side towards the pouch on his hip. "Keep going...keep going...ew, ew..."

Her hand felt the pouch and she slowly undid the clasp, opening up the top. A hand slid in...and she felt metal.

Sakura felt Sasuke start to pull away and bit down on his lip roughly, trying not to gag at the same time. It worked.

Another second passed and her hand identified a kunai in the pouch, gripping it tightly. She pulled it out slowly...and Sasuke's hand flew to her wrist.

He jerked his head away from hers and stared into her eyes furiously. "Thought you could fool me?" He tightened his grip and snatched another kunai out of his pouch, walking backwards slowly towards Naruto's bed, while pulling her forward with him. He turned away from her and held the kunai to Naruto's throat again, and Sakura took advantage of the moment and stomped on his foot. He cried out and released her wrist, and she moved her kunai swiftly to Sasuke's throat.

"Touch him and I'll kill you," she whispered.

Sasuke grinned at her. "Touch _me _and I'll kill _him_."

Her eyes didn't waver from his face. They were stuck. Naruto lay on his bed, still asleep, a kunai at his throat, while Sasuke stood next to him by the bed, and Sakura stood on the other side of Sasuke with her kunai against his neck.

Sasuke was at a disadvantage since he was in the middle, but it didn't matter as long as Naruto wasn't awake.

Both Sakura and Sasuke realized this, and Sasuke quickly pulled out another kunai and moved it to Sakura's throat before she could do anything. "Scream and I'll kill you."

Sakura grinned at him. "You couldn't kill me even if you wanted to."

Sasuke frowned at her. After a moment, he withdrew the kunai and put it back in his pouch. "Fine. If you scream I'll kill him. I don't care if you kill me afterwards."

Sakura didn't reply, instead keeping a sharp eye on Sasuke. She looked from his face to his weapons pouch. If she could grab another kunai, she would have two to use against him, but the pouch was on the other side of him, where Naruto was. There was no way she could sneak it, especially since the kissing idea wouldn't work again.

She saw Sasuke move a little to his left so that Naruto was blocked from her view, but Sasuke still didn't take his eyes off of her.

"Naruto will wake up eventually. The clock is against you," Sakura pointed out.

Sasuke grimaced. "You're right. Maybe I should just kill him then. Is that what you're saying?"

Sakura pressed the kunai harder against his throat. "Not if you value your own life, you won't."

They both stood face to face for another moment. One of Sasuke's hands was still behind his back, and Sakura had to assume the kunai was still against Naruto's neck.

As if reading her thoughts, Sasuke said, "Don't worry. It's still there." He gave her a sick smile.

Sakura looked at him, disgusted. "You're so different from when we were twelve."

"Being with Orochimaru can do that to you."

"That's no excuse. Karin's not even as bad as you."

"Karin's not truly in love."

She glared at him. "Just because she doesn't try to kill people for no reason like some sick bastard doesn't mean she doesn't love you."

Sasuke chuckled darkly. "She hates me, remember? Ever since I used her, she's hated me."

Sakura scowled at him silently, pressing the tip of the kunai even harder against him. A small trickle of blood ran down his neck.

Sasuke looked from the blood to her face. "I wouldn't do that. Naruto could suffer the same thing." He moved to the side and Sakura gasped when she saw a few drops of blood run from Naruto's neck and pool at his chest.

Sasuke moved back to his earlier spot so she couldn't see him. "Told you." He sighed like he was bored. "At any rate, you're right. He could wake up soon. So I think I'll just..." He smiled evilly and activated his Sharingan. Before Sakura knew what had happened, the kunai had been knocked from her hand and she was across the room with her back against the wall and stars in her eyes. She looked up at Sasuke, dazed, and saw him shoot her another dark grin. "Say goodbye to your darling Naru..." There was a small slashing sound and Sasuke's eyes widened. He stared at Sakura in shock, before letting out a small cough. Blood spattered on the floor and he looked down silently. Sakura followed his gaze.

The small tip of a kunai was barely noticeable, and it was protruding out of Sasuke's stomach. With a startled cry, the Uchiha crumpled to the floor, and the kunai was withdrawn from inside him. Naruto was revealed, sitting up in his bed with his hand held out in front of him, the kunai in his blood-stained hand.

Sakura watched with surprise as Naruto stood up in only his boxers, glaring down at Sasuke's lifeless body. "Bastard tried to kill me." He wiped the blood from his chest as best as he could, and Sakura jumped up, racing over to him and crushing him with a hug.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "Sakura...are you okay?"

Sakura nodded rapidly, tears leaking out onto Naruto's shoulder. "He almost killed you...I couldn't do a thing!"

Naruto laughed merrily. "What are you talking about? You saved my life!" He leaned back slightly and placed a kiss on her cheek. "You stopped him from killing me, you distracted him while I grabbed a kunai from his pouch, without you I couldn't have done anything." He looked at her seriously. "If you hadn't showed up I'd probably be dead right now."

She let out a shaky breath, her eyes moving to focus on Sasuke's back. "Naruto, we killed Sasuke... the same Sasuke that used to be our best friend."

Naruto followed her gaze. "No...that wasn't the same Sasuke. He changed. He wasn't the same person he used to be. And if it's any consolation, I take full blame for his death. I'm the one that killed him."

Sakura shook her head. "I don't want you to get in trouble for it. Let me take the blame."

Naruto could help laughing. "Sakura! I just killed Sasuke and you're STILL thinking about me? Listen, go get Tsunade. Tell her what happened, okay? I'll take...I'll try and carry his body to the hospital. Meet me there."

Sakura frowned worriedly, but nodded all the same. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a quick kiss. "I love you."

Naruto gave her a small smile. "I love you too. I'll see you in a little while, okay?"

In a second Sakura was up through the hole and heading towards Tsunade's office. Naruto looked down at Sasuke's bloody body, examining it.

Sasuke was lying on his stomach, his eyes were wide open in shock, and a kunai was still gripped lightly in his hand. "That was the kunai that would have killed me..." Naruto thought with a shudder. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke's body, throwing it over his shoulder. so that the front part of the body was hanging down behind him. He sighed sadly, preparing to leap through the roof. "I'm going to miss h-"

Naruto collapsed forward on his knees in pain. His chest was on fire. He looked down slowly to see a kunai stuck completely through him.

Sasuke wrenched himself from Naruto's grip, holding his stomach tightly and struggling to stand up straight. He grinned at the other boy as blood poured out of Naruto swiftly. "Maybe you should have stabbed me in the chest, moron," he said, his grin getting bigger as Naruto's eyes widened slightly and he collapsed on the floor on his stomach. "Say goodnight, dobe."


	9. Tending to the Wounds

**-runs from angry mob of Naru/Saku fans with torches and pitchforks while trying to type this chapter-**

**Me: Okay, okay! Naruto's still alive! Please don't kill me!**

**-mob lowers torches and pitchforks slightly and looks at me suspiciously-**

**.**

.

Tsunade-sama, come quickly!" Sakura cried, bursting into the Hokage's office.

Tsunade's head jerked up off her desk and she rubbed her eyes tiredly, letting out a loud yawn. "What are you doing here so late, Sakura?"

"No time to explain, there's been a death in the village!" Sakura cried frantically.

Tsunade was up in a second. "Who? Where? Take me to them!"

They both rushed out of the door and Sakura led Tsunade to the hospital at top speed, explaining on the way. "Sasuke attacked Naruto while he slept. I tried to stop Sasuke, and Naruto woke up in the process and stabbed him! When I left, Naruto was planning on meeting us at the hospital with the body."

Tsunade took the story in as they reached the front doors to the hospital and ran inside. A nurse jumped to attention in front of them, bowing swiftly. "Lady Hokage. How may I assist you?"

"Has a young blonde boy came in here recently, carrying a dark-haired one?"

The nurse shook her head. "No, we haven't seen anyone like that."

Sakura looked at Tsunade nervously. "Maybe Sasuke was too heavy...we should go to Naruto's house and make sure he's all right."

They quickly left the hospital in the direction of Naruto's home. "Maybe I shouldn't have left him alone so quickly...so many things might have happened. He could have went into shock or something...ugh!" Sakura thought to herself. "I'm a medic-nin, I should have remembered all of this!"

She jumped from roof to roof, Tsunade following behind, until a house with a hole in the roof came into view. She could see two figures through the hole. One was on the ground, and the other was standing up. She frowned. "Why isn't Naruto even trying to pick him up?"

As she got closer, her eyes widened. "NARUTO!" She plunged down through the hole as quickly as she could, kneeling down next to Naruto. She felt his wrist. There was a faint pulse. "We have to get him to the hospital!" she cried to Tsunade, who had just landed next to her.

"Don't you see, my love? Now we can be together!" Sasuke called from a few feet away.

Sakura froze. She had forgotten he was even there. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to look at him. "You."

Sasuke blinked at her, genuinely confused. "What's wrong, Sakura? Don't worry, I'm here. Everything's all right." He took a step towards her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but in a flash she had knocked it away and Sasuke found himself up against the nearest wall with her hand squeezing his throat.

"Sak...ura..." he choked out.

"I'll kill you," she hissed, tightening her grip on his neck.

Sasuke's face was beginning to turn blue, when Sakura felt a hand on her arm.

"Sakura. We need to get him to the hospital," Tsunade told her, holding a bloody Naruto in her arms.

Sakura's eyes softened as she looked at Naruto's face. She turned back to Sasuke and they hardened again before she quickly flung him across the room by his neck. Sasuke hit the opposite wall with a bang, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor. His hand flew to his stomach, which was beginning to bleed again, and his eyes widened. "This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to let me comfort her!" He glared at Sakura and Tsunade's retreating backs. "It must be because Naruto's still alive. I'll just have to finish the job."

They reached the hospital in record time, and Tsunade immediately called for a stretcher and layed Naruto flat out on it. He was rolled into the nearest room, and Sakura watched as Tsunade placed him on a bed and quickly removed Naruto's shirt to examine the wound. The kunai was still inside of him.

Tsunade hissed angrily. "It went all the way through him. We're going to need to remove this," she told the nurse that was helping her. "He appears to be unconscious, but he still has a pulse." She turned to Sakura. "Sakura, get some pain killers out of those cabinets!" She pointed at the cabinets to Sakura's left.

Sakura hurried over in that direction, opening the cabinet and sifting through some medicine bottles before she found pain killers. At Tsunade's order she dropped the pills through Naruto's slightly parted lips, and followed them with a glass of water to wash it down. By reflex, Naruto swallowed.

Tsunade flipped him over onto his chest. "Be ready with the towels, and make sure to apply as much pressure as possible," she said to the nurse. "He could start bleeding even more heavily." Her hands gripped the handle of the kunai tightly.

"Ts-Tsunade-same," Sakura said nervously. "Are you sure we should be pulling it out? He could bleed to death!"

"Don't worry, Sakura, I've been doing this for years. Naruto's very lucky. The kunai missed his heart and his main artery. He shouldn't lose very much blood. The only thing I'm worried about is that he's already lost a lot of blood. It might not matter that Sasuke didn't hit his heart or main artery; just the loss of more blood will kill him."

Sakura nodded in understanding, her eyes glued to Tsunade's hands as they slowly began to move upward. The kunai started to move upward with it, and eventually Sakura couldn't watch any more.

"It's out," Tsunade said after a moment. Sakura looked back to see a gash right in between Naruto's shoulder blades, about an inch in diameter. "Start putting the pressure on."

Both the nurse and Tsunade grabbed towels and started pressing down on the wound, which Sakura noticed had begun to bleed lightly. Her lip trembled as the seriousness of the situation hit her. She tried to imagine a life without Naruto.

_"I don't want you living up to those promises, Naruto. I...I'd rather die than live my life without you."_

Sakura's lip stopped trembling and she looked up, determined. "Let me help," she said, grabbing another towel and walking over to them without waiting for a response. She pressed the towel down and almost immediately it went red to match Tsunade's and the nurse's. "You're going to live, Naruto. I know you are."

Tsunade watched Sakura carefully. After a moment, she returned her eyes to the wound. Another minute went by. "Hold on a second. I think the bleeding has slowed down." They all removed their towels and stared. Tsunade was right. "Quick, get me some bandages!" Tsunade cried, and the nurse immediately ran back to another cabinet, pulling out a large roll of bandages, much like the ones Rock Lee and Neji wore over their arms. The nurse held Naruto up and Tsunade wrapped the bandages around Naruto's whole upper torso as tightly as she could, taking care to put multiple layers over the wound.

"Will he be able to breathe?" Sakura asked.

"Don't worry, they're not tight enough to cut off his breathing."

Sakura nodded. "Is there anything else we can do to help him?"

"For now, all we can do is wait."

Sasuke stumbled into the hospital, clutching his bleeding stomach. Almost immediately a nurse was helping him into a room. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"Stab wound in the stomach," Sasuke forced out, lying down on the bed.

"This looks pretty bad. You might have to stay here for a few days." As the nurse began to tend to his wounds, he looked past her and out of the door. Across the hall and in another room, pink hair could be seen. Sasuke smirked. He was in the room across from Naruto's.


	10. Getting Rid of the ANBU

Sakura watched Naruto's chest rise and fall rhythmically. His eyes were closed.

"Tsunade-sama, is he asleep, or is he unconscious from the pain?"

"Well...since we gave him pain killers, he should just be asleep. If that's the case, he's going to live."

Sakura let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "He is?"

Tsunade nodded. "He's very lucky that the bleeding stopped so fast when I pulled the knife out, as well as when Sasuke stabbed him."

"I don't think it was luck..." Sakura replied, turning to look at Naruto again.

Tsunade shrugged. Just a nurse passed by the outside of the room, she said, "Now that Naruto's taken care of, I need to go find Sasuke. He should be taken into custody immediately."

The nurse peeked her head back into the room. "Uchiha Sasuke? He just checked in a few minutes ago. He's in the room right across from this one."

"Thank you," Tsunade replied, leaving the room to go check on Sasuke.

She walked into his room to see him lying peacefully on his bed, his stomach now wrapped in bandages, just like Naruto's chest. He gave her a mocking grin. "I know why you're here. Can't arrest me until I'm out of here. And that's not until tomorrow morning!"

Tsunade sighed. "You think I don't know that? However, I can put security in your room so you can't get out without them knowing. ANBU Black Ops."

Sasuke shrugged. "Fine with me. Go ahead."

"I didn't need your permission. And be prepared to go to trial tomorrow for your sentence."

"Sure. Whatever," Sasuke replied with another shrug.

Sakura sat alone with Naruto, watching him sleep and keeping a careful eye on his heart monitor. Occasionally a nurse would come in to check on him, and one even asked Sakura to leave. Eventually the nurse had given up. Sakura was planning on staying by Naruto's side until he left the hospital, no matter how long that took.

Naruto grumbled something in his sleep that sounded like "takra" and tried to roll over to face her, wincing in the process.

Sakura looked at him nervously and carefully moved him so he was lying on his back again. Her hand went to his face, pressing her palm to his cheek lightly. "You're going to be okay, Naruto," she whispered.

Naruto twitched. "Takra..."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. "Chakra?" She leaned a bit closer to his face. Naruto didn't normally talk in his sleep as far as she knew.

"Sak...ra..." Naruto trailed off, and his snores took over.

Sakura gave him a small smile. "I'm here, Naruto. I'll be here until you wake up."

.

.

.

Sasuke sat up experimentally, testing to see if his stomach would bother him. The ANBU members guarding him didn't notice, as they were both standing just outside the room with their backs to him. It was now dark out, and some of the nurses had gone home, which meant that it would be less crowded in the halls. No doubt the ones that were still at the hospital found it weird that there were two ANBU Black Ops members standing in the hall.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that he felt almost no pain. Sasuke stood up almost as silently as possible, reaching for the kunai he had hid under the bed. He crept towards the two ANBU members with the kunai raised, and just as he was about to take aim with it, one of the guards spun around. Sasuke hid the kunai behind his back with almost lightning speed, and looked up at them innocently. "May I use the bathroom?"

The ANBU member's face was hidden by a mask, but Sasuke figured he was probably raising an eyebrow. "Fine. But no funny business. I'm coming with you."

Sasuke shrugged like he didn't care, and the man followed him down the hall. They found a nurse and asked for directions the the bathroom, and once they got there Sasuke headed into a stall. He stuck the kunai into the toilet and then took it out, letting the water drip into the toilet so it would sound like he was using the bathroom. Sasuke peeked under the bottom of the stall door and saw the man's ankles about a foot away. He placed the kunai on the floor and flushed the toilet, then did a few hand signs and let a steady stream of fire flow out of his mouth and under the door. A small bit of it caught on the ANBU member's pants.

"What the...?" The man leaned down to look at his ankle, and Sasuke wrenched the stall door open and kicked the man right in the face. He flew across the bathroom and hit a wall with a loud crashing sound.

"Is everything all right in there?" a nurse called from outside.

"Yeah, I'm okay! I just slipped," Sasuke yelled back. He looked back at the ANBU member and saw he was unconscious. Sasuke quickly removed the man's shirt and pants and used the kunai to cut the fabric into strips and tie it into two long ropes. He tied the man up and shoved the remaining one into his own pocket as best as he could. Once he was done, he hid the man in a stall and locked the door to it so nobody would come in. He grabbed his kunai on the way out, along with all of the ANBU's shurikens and kunai.

Once out of the bathroom, Sasuke headed towards his room through the ten foot wide halls. The other ANBU member saw him coming, but before he could do anything Sasuke flicked a kunai in his direction. The man took it in the shoulder, and before he could pull it out Sasuke was by his side. Sasuke pressed a place near the man's neck, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Sasuke quickly dragged him into his own room, not bothering to tie him up.

Sakura, meanwhile, was still inside Naruto's room with the door closed. Suddenly, she heard a thump from outside it and stood up curiously, heading towards the door.

Sasuke walked out of his room, wearing the shirt of the ANBU member so he would look like a normal person. He grinned at the door to Naruto's room, which was only a few feet away, and headed over to it, placing his hand on the doorknob. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming from around the corner.

Sakura twisted the doorknob and opened the door, looking around for the source of the thump. Before she knew what had happened, she was up against a wall and a pair of lips were pressed against hers. Her eyes widened when she recognized Sasuke, and she tried in vain to pull away. Suddenly she felt something sharp poke her in the hip, and was almost relieved when she realized it was a kunai. Sasuke pulled away quickly, keeping the kunai against her hip as a nurse stopped next to them and glared.

"You know the rules, no PDA in the hospital!" she cried.

Sasuke gave her a sheepish look, and Sakura just stared. "We're sorry ma'am, we'll leave right away."

He pulled Sakura around the corner by the hand, pressing the kunai harder against her hip, and as soon as they were out of the nurse's sight Sasuke opened a door that said "Storage" on it and pulled her inside, closing the door behind him.

Sakura recovered from shock and shook her head, glaring at him. "What the hell are you doing here! I thought Tsunade-sama had you arrested!"

"They couldn't arrest me. I'm _injured_," Sasuke said with a smile.

"You look fine to me!" Sakura growled.

"That's the idea. Now, if you don't mind, I have someone to take care of." He shoved her down on the ground before she could do anything and took the handmade rope out of his pocket.

"You're not doing anything to Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Hn. Think whatever you want. Soon Naruto'll be out of the way, whether you like it or not. Remember, I'm doing all of this for you, Sakura." He began to wrap the rope around her, and she struggled against it.

He looked at her. "We can do this two ways. One: I can tie you up. Two: I can knock you out and THEN tie you up. Pick one."

"Or three: I can kick your ass!" Sakura's right hand began to glow with chakra.

Sasuke sighed. "I guess that's code for option two." He quickly pressed the same point on Sakura as he had on the ANBU, and her eyes closed, her hand stopped glowing, and she slumped over on the floor. Just to be safe, Sasuke tied her up anyway. He stood up, checking through the window on the door to make sure the hall was deserted. It was. He rubbed his hands together quickly. It was time to take care of Naruto.


	11. The Ultimate Security

Taking care not to be spotted by anyone, Sasuke made his way back to Naruto's room. The door was still open, and he peered inside suspiciously. After being stabbed in the stomach by someone who was supposedly unconscious, this time he would make sure he was positive Naruto was asleep. But first, he needed to make sure the other ANBU member in his room was still down.

He entered his own room to see the man still slumped in the corner, where he had left him. Now that he had more time, and nobody else to stop him from killing Naruto, he decided to make a third rope from the man's pants. He finished it in ten minutes, tying the ANBU member up quickly and then standing up straight. He readied his weapons, placing a kunai in one hand and a shuriken in another. If he hadn't been so focused on his weapons, he might have heard a few hushed whispers coming from various places in his room.

Without another word, he moved to step through the doorway to Naruto's room...and found that he couldn't.

Sasuke tried again. It felt like he was hitting an invisible wall. Now that he really payed attention, there were little tiny obstructions in the doorway that prevented him from seeing certain areas of the room. He pressed a hand against the barrier. It felt soft, but rough at the same time. "Sand..." Sasuke said aloud.

"I heard about what you did to Naruto."

Sasuke spun around quickly, throwing his kunai. Gaara's sand shield instantly blocked it.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "G-Gaara? What are you doing here?"

Before Gaara could answer, two more figures entered into Sasuke's field of vision from either side of him. Kankuro and Temari stood next to Gaara, arms crossed. Temari gave Sasuke a sarcastic wave.

"Long time, no see," Kankuro said. "Came all the way from Suna just to say hello. Gaara even took off duty as Kazekage."

"You didn't really think those two ANBU were our only defense, did you?" Tsunade's voice came from Naruto's room. Sasuke didn't have to turn around to know she was there. "You trained under Orochimaru, first of all. If anyone knows how strong he is, it's me. Then, you killed him, along with your own brother. That takes an immense amount of power. I knew the ANBU members couldn't stop you. This is our real defense. And they're just the beginning."

Sasuke watched, wide-eyed, as Tenten stepped out of his own room, twirling a kunai on her finger absentmindedly. "Hey, Sasuke," she said without looking at him. Neji followed behind with a blank face, and Rock Lee brought up the rear, for once looking serious. From the left came Shino, Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru. Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji came from the right. Last, and in Sasuke's mind least, came Karin in the very back.

"Gonna fight all of us, Sasuke?" she asked teasingly.

Sasuke swallowed roughly, looking at the small mob before him. Not to mention the Hokage herself was standing behind him. All possible outcomes of a fight ran through his mind. He could throw a kunai at any of the three Sand-nin, who were in front, to start the fight. Gaara's shield would block it, and Kankuro would need some time to get his puppets ready anyway, so the best choice would be Temari. But then Gaara could trap him with a Sand Coffin, or Tenten could throw a kunai at him, or Shino could use his bugs, any of the others could attack him directly. And he couldn't even begin to think about what Tsunade would do. Frankly, it wouldn't be about whether or not he died, it would be about how creative they could make his death. Or how much they could torture him.

Sasuke took a deep breath. "With your combined abilities...I could never defeat all of you."

"That's the idea, dumbass," came Kiba's voice.

Sasuke shot him a glare. "So, I would assume the plan is to arrest me." He smirked at them. "But I'm afraid I can't let that happen."

He made to jump straight through the ceiling, but for some reason he couldn't move. He looked down at his feet to see a shadow protruding from them.

"You think almost as much as me. Too bad that distracted you," Shikamaru said.

Sasuke growled and tried again in vain to move.

"So what should we do with him?" Gaara asked the Hokage.

Tsunade tapped a finger to her chin. "Well, we obviously have to keep him tied up somewhere, or subdued in some way. Otherwise he'll try to escape. Do you think you can trap him with your sand for the rest of the night?"

Gaara nodded. "I went years without sleep. I can take one night."

Tsunade clapped her hands together. "Excellent. Have that done immediately."

Sasuke activated his Sharingan as Gaara's sand headed towards him and Shikamaru's shadow drew away. There was less than a second between the two that Sasuke wasn't trapped, and he took advantage of it, gathering chakra at his feet and blasting through the ceiling before anyone knew what had happened.

"What the..." Shikamaru started to say.

"Hurry, we have to go catch him!" Ino cried. Everyone formed in a small group under the hole, and one by one they jumped through until only Gaara was left. Before he could leave, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I'd prefer to have him arrested, but if he's a danger to the rest of your group, and you have no other options, you have my permission to kill him," Tsunade told him. Gaara nodded and then was gone.

If this wasn't such a serious matter, everyone participating in the chase probably would have been laughing at the image of a large crowd of teenagers chasing one person.

Sasuke headed for the training grounds, and looking back he could see that he would have to fight at some point. The faster ones of the group were beginning to catch up to him, including Rock Lee, Kiba and Akamaru, and both Hyuugas.

Just as he was about to land in the center of a field, he felt two hands on his shoulders, and he plowed into the ground face first with Rock Lee on top of him. "Surrender now!" came the voice from above him. Sasuke kicked Rock Lee in the back and sent him rolling over the top of of him.

Sasuke quickly stood up and leaped into a nearby tree branch, surveying the scene in front of him. Eleven more ninja landed next to Rock Lee, and Tenten quickly helped him up. He remembered his earlier calculations. If there was a fight, he would most likely die. But if he could find some way to get them by themselves...

"Sasuke, are you going to come quietly or not? If you fight all of us, you'll die!"

Sasuke closed one eye slowly, keeping the other focused on the group. The closed one was spent picturing Naruto in his mind. He saw the hand signs...yes, that was it.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Sasuke called out, moving his hands quickly.

"What? He doesn't know that jutsu!" Chouij called out.

"But Naruto does. And with his Sharingan, Sasuke can copy any jutsu he's ever seen," Shikamaru replied.

"Damn it!" Kiba hissed as eleven clones popped up around Sasuke, quickly scrambling themselves around so they couldn't remember which was the real one.

"Each of us will take one. Meet back here if you defeat a shadow clone," Gaara said.

"Wait! I can use my Byakugan to see which one's the real one!" Hinata told them. Neji nodded next to her, and they both activated it.

"Oh...they seem to have the same chakra levels. That will make the shadow clones harder to defeat, but the real one will be easier. But as we destroy the clones, the real Sasuke will get more powerful because he won't have to split up as much chakra between clones. And we can't tell who the real one is right now anyway," Hinata said.

"That's correct," Neji put in.

"Alright, I guess we'll have to just split up and follow them," Gaara repeated.

"You guys done strategizing yet?" one of the Sasukes called. "Because we're ready to fight!"


	12. Four Shadow Clones Revealed

The twelve Sasuke's quickly split into four groups, and each group headed in a different direction. Each squad took a group, but then eventually the different groups branched off, leaving each ninja by themselves chasing one Sasuke.

Kiba and Akamaru veered off to the left to follow a Sasuke, and Kiba looked to his right to see Hinata still heading straight, and Shino veering off to the right. "I hope they get clones..." he thought anxiously. "If Hinata got the real thing..." He shuddered at the thought, averting his eyes back to the Sasuke he was chasing. They hopped from branch to branch for a minute, until Kiba saw a clearing up ahead. Sasuke reached the clearing and hopped down into the center. Kiba landed a few feet away, and they faced each other.

"I'm ready when you are," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Alright! Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba cried, throwing one of his smoke bombs in Sasuke's direction and pulling out a kunai. Both he and Akamaru charged towards the smoke, heading into it...and then out the other side. "Huh?" There was no sign of Sasuke.

Kiba heard a yelp and saw Akamaru go sliding across the ground. "Akamaru!" He rushed to Akamaru's side, and when he turned around to make sure Sasuke wasn't there, he received a roundhouse kick to the face. Kiba flew through the air and hit a tree. He blinked quickly and saw stars, then stood up, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. "There's no way...you have to be the real thing!" he exclaimed. Sasuke just shrugged.

"Akamaru, are you okay?" Kiba asked. He saw Akamaru stand up and slowly head over towards him. "Alright, boy, let's go! It's time to end this, whether he's the real thing or not!" Kiba made a few hand signs and then grinned at Sasuke. "Wolf Fang Over Fang!"

Both Kiba and Akamaru spun so fast Sasuke almost couldn't see them. In a flash the two spirals were heading towards him. He leaped to avoid the first one, looking back behind him to see Akamaru plow into the ground, and then turned back around to take Kiba right in the stomach.

Kiba came out of his spiral to see that he had made a hole straight through Sasuke's stomach. He looked back up at Sasuke's face and saw that he had his teeth grit and he looked like he was in extreme pain. "You haven't disappeared yet...you must be the real one! Oh Kami...I killed Sasuke..." Kiba muttered.

Sasuke shook his head roughly, slowly looking up at Kiba. "I was careless..." His lips slid upward into a smirk. With a poof and a puff of white smoke, he was gone.

Kiba wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad. At least Sasuke wasn't dead...but if this one was a clone, that only increased the chances that someone he cared about was facing the real Sasuke. He headed towards Akamaru to make sure he was okay, and then they both began the journey back to the other field.

.

Blue waves reverberated from Neji's hand as it made contact with Sasuke's skin. "I just cut off chakra to your left arm," he commented without stopping the assault.

Sasuke hissed in frustration and took out a kunai, blocking Neji's attacks with it. He used his other hand to pull out a shuriken, throwing it at the advancing Hyuuga. Neji quickly dodged it, but it still grazed the side of his leg and put a small cut across it.

"You're a clone. The real Sasuke wouldn't be this easy," Neji told him, pressing a point in Sasuke's right shoulder. "You can't even do hand signs now."

Sasuke growled and hopped high into the air, flipping over Neji and landing directly behind him.

"Byakugan. I can see you." Neji grabbed Sasuke's arm without turning around and flipped him over his shoulder. Sasuke collided with the tree and sat there for a moment. Neji stood over him. "You're even easier than Tenten."

He froze for a moment. Tenten. What if she had gotten the real Sasuke?

He felt a sharp pain at his ankle and realized that he had gotten distracted, and Sasuke had slashed at his ankle. It was now bleeding pretty heavily. Neji grit his teeth and looked from his ankle to a smirking Sasuke. He shook his head and aimed a kick with his other foot right at Sasuke's face. Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Neji sat down with a sigh and began to unwrap the bandages on his hands and arms, reapplying them to his ankles. He looked around himself for any signs of life. "I wonder if the others found the clones this easy to defeat."

.

Ino aimed a kick right at Sasuke's stomach, but he quickly caught her foot and swung her around, eventually letting go and sending her flying. Ino quickly recovered, landing on a tree branch and glaring at him. "I can't use the Mind Transfer Jutsu without Shikamaru..." she thought angrily. "The only thing I can rely on is Tai Jutsu."

She hopped back down to the ground and charged again, and this time when he grabbed her foot, she swung the other one around to hit him in the back of the head. He fell forward on his hands and knees and she aimed another kick at his stomach. "If you were a shadow clone, wouldn't you be gone by now?" Ino asked.

"They're a little...ugh..." He took another kick from Ino in the gut. "...tougher than regular clones."

"Oh," Ino replied without relenting. This was beginning to look more like a mugging than a ninja fight. "So you're saying you're a clone?"

"No. I'm saying I could be." He coughed and a little blood came out. The next time Ino's foot connected, Sasuke grabbed it and sank his teeth into her ankle.

Ino jumped back, crying out and grabbing her ankle as Sasuke stood up. "You bit me!" She ran forward angrily and kicked Sasuke in the crotch. He fell down with a grunt, and quickly disappeared.

"Ugh!" Ino exclaimed, sitting down to examine her ankle. "I can't believe that asshole bit me!"

.

Kankuro quickly attached chakra strings to two of his puppets, controlling each one with a hand. Both puppets flew towards Sasuke, and he fought them off, landing kicks to the hard wood. Sasuke charged at Kankuro, landing a punch right at his face. And another. And a few more, until finally Kankuro's face began to crack.

"Wait, what?" Sasuke said, studying Kankuro's face. It began to break into more pieces, and eventually fell away. The thing on Kankuro's back came to life, unraveling and revealing the real Kankuro.

"You should have stayed away from my puppet, Sasuke." More chips of sand fell away until a whole new puppet was revealed. Sharp spikes protruded from its six arms, and Sasuke made a move to get away, but he was too slow. The six arms clasped around him, and the spikes stabbed into him at various places in his body.

Sasuke let out a loud cry and fell backwards...right into another of Kankuro's puppets. It closed itself quickly, leaving Sasuke trapped inside.

"I have orders to capture you, not kill you. But I could kill you right now if I wanted to. Listen, you can be a huge burden right now and not tell me whether you're a shadow clone or not, and in that case I'll have to drag you along everywhere I go. Or you could just let me know, and I'll take appropriate action from there. Got it?"

Laughter came from inside the puppet, along with some heavy breathing. "So in other words, if I'm the real one, you'll keep me in here, and if I'm a shadow clone, you'll kill me?"

"Pretty much. I'm surprised my other puppet didn't defeat you with all those spikes. That is, if you're a shadow clone."

"Sasuke's shadow clones have more chakra than normal, which I'm sure you already know, thanks to the Hyuugas. That means we're more powerful and we can take more hits without poofing away. Instead of fighting shadow clones, it's more like fighting a particularly weak person."

"So are you going to tell me if you're a shadow clone or not?"

"No, why on Earth would I do that?"

Kankuro sighed. "Alright then, let's go." He proceeded to drag the puppet along behind him, back towards the field.

.

Kiba arrived at the field just as Neji entered it from the opposite side. They met in the center.

"Shadow clone?" Kiba asked. Neji nodded.

With a loud thump, Ino landed on the ground next to them. "Oh, you got it in the ankle too?" she said to Neji, noticing his moved bandage. "That freak bit me!"

Kiba grinned at her. "So how did you guys defeat yours? I used Wolf Fang Over Fang."

"Kick to the face."

"Kick to the groin."

Kiba and Neji stared at Ino. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope!"

Before Neji or Kiba could reply, Kankuro walked up from behind them with his puppet.

"Oh, hey. You got a shadow clone too?" Kiba asked.

"I'm not really sure. Mine's being particularly stubborn," Kankuro told them.

Ino raised her eyebrows. "So...your Sasuke is in there?" She pointed to the puppet.

"Um...yes. I figured we're supposed to capture him, not kill him, so once I trapped him in my puppet it was either kill or not kill. And I didn't want to kill him in case it was the real Sasuke. And of course, he wouldn't tell me if he was a shadow clone or not. So I brought him here."

Ino bent over and peeked in through a slot in the puppet. "Aw! He looks so sad!"

Kiba stared at her for a moment, then looked over at Kankuro. "All you have to do is let him out, and we can punch him few times. Once he's beat up, we'll know if he's real or not."

"But if it's the real Sasuke, he'll try to escape. And we can't let that happen," Neji pointed out.

The three boys sighed and sat down, while Ino went to go grab a stick and poke Sasuke through the slots.

"Ow! That hurts!" Sasuke cried.

Neji looked over at Ino with interest. "Hey, keep poking him, Ino."

Ino shrugged. "Sure." She prodded him roughly with the stick.

"Hey! Stop it! That hur..." He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Kiba grinned. "Well what do you know? It was a shadow clone!"

Ino frowned. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"All that's left to do is wait for the others. Whoever doesn't show up got the real one, and that person's teammates should have a pretty good idea of where they are. Then we can go help."

"Alright." There was a moment of silence. "Who do you think got the real one?" Kiba asked.

"I don't know. I just hope it's not Shikamaru!" Ino cried.

"I hope Tenten didn't get him."

"I hope it wasn't Hinata."

They all looked at Kankuro. "I don't really give a shit so long as I'm safe." Everyone glared at him. "Fine. I would prefer Gaara got the real thing, because Gaara could easily kick that psycho's ass."

Neji nodded. "You're probably right."

Kiba sighed and laid down, crossing his arms behind his head. "I guess now we wait."


	13. Shikamaru or Tenten?

The four ninja were still alone ten minutes later. By now Kiba was standing up with his arms crossed, staring at the woods around them. He changed direction every few seconds. "Where could the others be? Do you think they're all right?"

"Relax. There's only one real Sasuke. The odds of Hinata ending up fighting that one are one in eight," Kankuro said from his place on the ground.

Kiba gulped. "Those odds don't sound very good to me..."

Ino shuddered. "Me neither..."

Neji didn't say anything, instead choosing to stare up at the sky, but inside he felt his heart beat a little faster, and nervous butterflies were forming in his stomach.

"But still, why are they taking so long if most of them have shadow clones?" Kiba pointed out.

"Well, when my fight started, Temari and Gaara were still chasing their Sasukes. So maybe they had to travel farther, and their fights might have also taken longer. And the travel back here would take longer, too."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Ino started.

Neji sat up suddenly, staring at a spot in the woods. He could have sworn he had heard something rustle.

"What is it?" Kankuro asked him.

Neji focused on that one spot intently, so nervous that he forgot to use his Byakugan. The other three looked in the same direction.

"Do you see someone?" Kiba questioned.

"Yeah, do you? Cause I don...CHOUJI!" Ino cried, standing up and running over to the boy as he stumbled out of the woods. She practically tackled him in a hug. "You're okay! Does that mean you got a shadow clone?" She asked as she led him over to the rest of the group. Chouji collapsed next to them, breathing heavily.

"Yeah, I got a shadow clone. It was a tough one, though. I don't know why it took me so long to take him down..."

Ino pulled a bag of chips out of her bag and handed them to him. Chouji quickly shoveled them down his throat. "Um...did you happen to see Shikamaru?" Ino asked nervously.

Chouji shook his head. "When our fight started, he was still chasing Sasuke. I don't know what happened to him."

Ino looked down at the ground. "Oh...okay..."

Chouji put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, Ino. It's Shikamaru! I'm sure he's okay!" He grinned at her. Ino forced a smile.

Another rustling sound came from nearby, and everyone looked up quickly. Kiba caught a glimpse of purplish hair before he took off running towards the figure. Hinata spotted him at the same time, and with a cheerful laugh ran towards him. They met in the middle and Kiba lifted her up in the air, spinning her quickly and then placing her on the ground. They grinned at each other, and then Kiba's smile faded. He rubbed a bloody spot on her cheek with his thumb, and Hinata winced.

"You got cut," Kiba pointed out.

"It's okay...it doesn't really hurt that much," Hinata replied.

Kiba stared at her for a moment, but then the smile returned to his face and he grabbed her hand, pulling her back to the rest of the group. "Hinata's back!" he exclaimed.

Kankuro grinned at them, and both Neji and Ino gave them strained smiles. Kiba noticed this and frowned at them. "Don't worry guys. I'm sure they're okay."

"Two in six," Neji said.

"Huh?" Kankuro asked.

"Two in six. There's a thirty-three percent chance either Tenten or Shikamaru got the real Sasuke. One third."

Kankuro frowned. "Relax. Gaara probably got him, and Sasuke's probably done for. Quit worrying so much."

"What about me?"

The other six turned around to see Gaara staring at them.

"Shit!" Kankuro cursed. "Let's hope it's Temari, then..."

Both Ino's and Neji's hearts fell lower and settled somewhere in their stomachs.

"THE POWER OF YOUTH PREVAILS!"

A voice echoed from above them, and out of nowhere, Rock Lee came flying through the air, landing with a large bang and scaring the crap out of Hinata, who leaped into a startled Kiba's arms.

"Ugh...half of me wishes Rock Lee had gotten the real one just so he would die..." Kiba muttered.

Rock Lee pretended not to hear. "That shadow clone was no match for my Tai Jutsu!" he cried, raising a victorious fist in the air.

Gaara sighed. "My fight was shorter than the actual chase. But Kankuro's right. Konoha's ninja's are talented, but it would be fortunate if Temari were to get the real Sasuke."

"You know there's a two in four chance now, right?" Ino said to Neji. He nodded dejectedly.

Gaara, Rock Lee, Hinata, and Chouji settled down next to the rest of the ninja, and they all sat and talked about their current situation.

"You know what? I think maybe each squad should go and help their teammate. That way nobody will get hurt," Kiba pointed out.

Gaara sighed. "That would be a good idea, other than this: picture this scenario. One of our teammates has just finished their fight, and they are seriously injured. They make their way back through the woods, using all of their energy. They are on the verge of death, and finally they reach this clearing...only to find it deserted. What do you think would happen? That's why we can't leave. They could be heading back right now and we might miss them."

"He's right," Ino said with a sigh. "As much as I'd like to go help Shikamaru, we can't desert anyone who might come back looking for us."

Neji stared at the ground for a moment. "One," he finally said.

"Hmm?" Hinata asked, looking up at him.

"We send one person to go help each of them. That way we'll still have four to stay here, but some of us can go help."

Ino nodded forcefully. "Yeah. And I'm going!"

Neji stood up. "So am I."

Gaara cleared his throat. "I suppose we could do that. But what if you don't come back?"

"Then assume we got the real Sasuke," Ino told him.

"Alright." Gaara looked at Kankuro. "Who's going?"

Kankuro looked at him expectantly. "My puppets are all used up for today, bro."

Gaara nodded, also standing up. "I'll go help Temari then."

Kiba and Hinata looked at each other, and Kiba traced the cut on Hinata's face. "I don't want you to get hurt. I'll go."

Hinata looked at him nervously. "Are you sure?"

Kiba grinned at her, standing up. "I'm sure Shino's fine anyway. He probably won't even need my help!" The four shinobi gathered chakra into their feet, ready to leave, when suddenly there were some more rustling sounds, and Temari and Shino came walking out of the woods, side by side.

Both Neji and Ino's eyes widened and they were both in the air and gone in a flash. Gaara and Kiba quickly ran over to their teammates.

"You guys okay?" Kiba asked. Shino nodded.

"It was no problem."

"Yeah. Mine was easy too. I had to chase him forever though. It took me a while to get back here," Temari explained. "Is everyone else back?"

"No. Either Tenten or Shikamaru got the real Sasuke. We're not sure yet. But Ino and Neji went to help them. I guess we'll find out in a few minutes. Whichever group doesn't come back..." Gaara trailed off. "I just hope no one is seriously hurt."


	14. Gaara vs Sasuke

Ino scouted in every direction as she hopped from branch to branch. After over five minutes of traveling, she came to a clearing near where her fight had taken place, and two figures seemed to be standing in the center. As she got closer, she saw a shadow connecting the two figures, and grinned. "Shikamaru!" she called out, and one of the figures turned to face her. The other one turned to look away from her.

"Ino," Shikamaru commented in the happiest voice he could manage, given the situation he was in. "I'm glad you're here. I have him trapped in my Shadow Possession Jutsu, but I can't really do anything, you know? And I'm afraid the jutsu won't last much lon...hey!" He was taken by surprise as Ino threw her arms around him happily. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you don't know how bad it was! People showing up one by one until it was only you and Tenten left! There's a fifty percent chance you're facing the real one!" Ino told him. Shikamaru looked from Ino to Sasuke.

"Hmm...I don't know. This one doesn't seem very psychotic. It's probably a shadow clone. Do me a favor though, could you use your mind transfer jutsu on him while he's trapped? Then we can take him back to the others, and they can deal with him."

"Oh, there's no need for that!" Ino said, walking over to Sasuke. "I'll just deal with this one the same way I dealt with the one I fought: a good kick to the groin!"

"NO!" Shikamaru shouted as Ino pulled her foot back.

Ino turned to look at him. "Why not?"

"You can't attack him right now, remember? It'll hurt me too!"

Ino frowned. "Oh yeah. Alright, wait one second..." She made a few hand signs, and her body crumpled to the ground. Shikamaru released the jutsu, and Ino took a few steps forward, now in Sasuke's body. "Okay, could you carry my body, Shikamaru?" Ino asked. Shikamaru nodded, picking up Ino's body in his hands. They hopped up into the trees and began their return to the field.

.

Neji approached a clearing and knew instantly this was where Tenten would be. Kunai and shuriken littered the ground and trees, and when he got closer, he could see Sasuke standing over Tenten, who was on her knees and breathing heavily. He could see a kunai stuck deep into her thigh. "Tenten..." He raced into the field and saw Sasuke raise a kunai, aiming it at a defenseless Tenten's chest. He brought it down swiftly, but in a flash Neji was between the two ninja and his hand was on Sasuke's wrist, stopping him from using the kunai. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Neji..." Tenten muttered between gasps. "I'm sorry...I couldn't defeat him...he's the real thing..." She tried to take another deep breath, but stopped halfway, crumpling over on her side.

Neji let out a loud growl and shoved Sasuke's backwards by his wrist, taking a fighting stance and glaring at him. Without another word, he charged at the Uchiha.

.

Ino and Shikamaru reached their friends a few minutes later. Shikamaru waved at the group, and Ino also started to wave, but then frowned when she saw the small mob charging towards her angrily. She looked down at herself. "Shit!" Ino took off in a random direction, and Shikamaru cut the group off so they couldn't go after her, waving his hands in front of him nervously.

"Stop, stop, that's not Sasuke. Ino used her Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

"Ohhhhhh..." Chouji said.

"Well, she can go ahead and release it. Just let us make sure we've got him trapped," Gaara told him.

Once Ino was convinced they weren't going to try and attack her again, she let them form a tight circle around her.

"Alright, release it," Gaara commanded. As Ino started the hand signs, Gaara said, "Remember, there's a fifty percent chance this is the real thing. Be careful." Ino finished her hand signs, and Sasuke shook his head. Ino's body, which was still being held by Shikamaru, began to stir.

The circle tightened around Sasuke, and he smirked at the group. "Guess I'm trapped..." He took out a kunai, tossing it in the air carelessly. Everyone else watched him warily. "Well, looks like you guys..." He caught the kunai and looked around at them. "...got the wrong one." He stabbed himself in the stomach, and then was gone.

The other ninja stared. Finally, Gaara shook his head and looked at Rock Lee. "Let's go." He turned to the others. "Wait here in case Tenten and Neji come back."

Everyone else nodded, and Rock Lee and Gaara quickly left.

.

Neji aimed for Sasuke's chakra points with his hands, but it wasn't working as well as it had with the clone. With the clones destroyed, Sasuke was almost back to full strength. Neji let out another growl, flipping himself over the top of Sasuke so that he was facing Tenten. He could use her as a reminder of what he was fighting for. "I've always hated you, Uchiha," Neji snarled, aiming for another chakra point.

"I could say the same thing about you," Sasuke replied, blocking the attack without breaking a sweat, and countering it with a sweep of his leg. Neji quickly jumped over Sasuke's leg, and his glowing hands connected with Sasuke's neck, missing his target: Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke winced, but Neji hadn't hit him at a direct chakra point. In Sasuke's brief moment of weakness, Neji buried a shuriken in his shoulder. Sasuke howled in pain, yanking it out and jumping backwards, away from Neji. He landed a foot behind the unconscious Tenten, and then looked from Neji to Tenten. Neji stood stock-still, staring at him. A grin slowly spread across Sasuke's face.

"No...don't...please, I'll do anything..." Neji told him, taking a step forward.

Sasuke drew out a kunai and pointed it towards Tenten. "Another step and she gets it."

Neji stopped moving, his feet rooted to the ground. "Don't hurt her..." His hand twitched, moving towards his weapons pouch involuntarily.

"Wrong move!" Sasuke exclaimed, bringing the kunai down. Neji moved at a speed he didn't think possible, and when Sasuke's kunai buried itself into flesh, it was Neji's gut. Sharingan met Byakugan, and Neji let out a small cough, blood flying out of his mouth and landing on Sasuke's face. Sasuke gave him a disgusted look, shoving him aside. Neji landed with a thump next to Tenten, using his last bit of energy to intertwine her fingers with his. He could hear new voices approaching, along with something about youth.

He forced a smile. "Lee..." Neji could feel his eyes closing, and he focused on Tenten. "Tenten, I'm sorry..." And then everything went black.

Sasuke felt a foot on his back, and before he knew it, he was flying through the air, slamming face first into a tree. When the stars cleared, he spun around to see Rock Lee and Gaara standing side by side. Gaara switched to a fighting stance. "Lee, check on your teammates. Let me fight him."

Lee looked from Gaara to Sasuke, finally deciding to comply with Gaara's wishes. He kneeled next to Neji and Tenten while Gaara began his fight with Sasuke, studying their bodies. He felt both wrists. There were definitely pulses. "Gaara. I cannot do anything to help them. But I think Ino has some healing abilities. I will have to take them back to her!"

Gaara nodded without looking at him, directing some of his sand to head towards Sasuke. "Go ahead. I'll handle this until you get back."

Lee quickly picked up his teammates and headed off into the woods.

"Just me and you, eh?" Sasuke asked, dodging the incoming sand. "Gaara of the Desert."

Gaara didn't reply, instead directing his sand to swarm around Sasuke on all sides. "You're no match for me. My sand will destroy you unless you surrender."

Sasuke watched as the sand moved towards him from all sides, taking out a kunai and slashing at it. "You're probably right. But I'll never surrender." As if a light bulb had suddenly appeared over his head, Sasuke's eyes widened, and he grinned at Gaara. Gathering chakra at his feet, he sprinted forward, taking a long leap through the air, kunai in hand. Gaara's sand quickly followed, and Gaara realized that Sasuke's target was him. With all of his sand concentrated on attacking, he had none for defense. He ushered the sand forward faster, willing it to catch Sasuke.

Gaara felt the cold metal on his neck just as his sand enveloped Sasuke's whole body. He looked up at the Uchiha, who was now suspended in air with his arm extended, the kunai in his hand pressed against Gaara's neck.

"Try to move me and I'll kill you," Sasuke hissed. Gaara stayed still, and they locked eyes.

Gaara tried to think things through. He knew that the first priority was to capture Sasuke. He was to kill him if there was no other option. If he were to try and move Sasuke, but still keep him trapped with the sand, Sasuke would kill him. And if he tried to move away, Sasuke would still kill him. So they were frozen like this. There was only one option: the one move Sasuke would have no power to stop. But should he do it? Gaara thought back to what Tsunade had said.

_"I'd prefer to have him arrested, but if he's a danger to the rest of your group, and you have no other options, you have my permission to kill him."_

A danger to the group? Well, of course he had been a danger to the group! Almost everyone had come out of their fights with at least a little damage. Hell, Neji and Tenten were seriously injured! Where was the damn Hokage herself when you needed her? Why hadn't she come along with them? Gaara grit his teeth. Sasuke had injured multiple ninja from his own village, Sakura had even been missing from Naruto's room at the hospital and there was no telling what he had done with her, and last but not least, if there was a situation where there were no other options, this was definitely it.

Sasuke watched Gaara carefully, his smirk fading slightly. Gaara looked back up at him with resignation.

"What're you doin...?" Sasuke started to say.

Gaara grit his teeth and whispered the words.

"Desert Funeral." He clasped his right hand into a fist by his side, and the sand surrounding Sasuke completely swallowed him, crushing him almost silently and muffling Sasuke's screams. The kunai at Gaara's throat was immediately released, falling to the ground with a clatter. The sand fell to the ground afterwards, gathering and then heading back into Gaara's gourd. There were no traces of Sasuke. He was dead.

Gaara turned around and faced the forest, bowing his head to look at the ground. "I should go tell the others."

.

When he arrived at the field, the other ninja were all gathered around Ino, who had one hand on Tenten and another on Neji. Both were glowing with green chakra.

Chouji was the first to notice Gaara's appearance. "Gaara! Did you manage to capture Sasuke?"

The others turned to look at him anxiously. "Where is he?" Kiba asked, looking around.

"He's not here," Gaara told them.

"Did he escape?" Hinata asked nervously. Everyone stared at him. Gaara looked from face to face, finally settling on his siblings. He could tell by their expressions that the two of them knew.

"No. I killed him."

"What!?" Lee said, straightening up and clenching both fists. "We were supposed to capture him! I wanted a chance to avenge my teammates!"

"It was either him or me."

Lee deflated. "Huh?"

"He had a kunai at my neck. I had him trapped with my sand. One of us had to die. And I had orders from the Hokage to kill him if I had no other choice."

Kiba scratched the back of his head. "So...he's really gone?"

Gaara nodded. "Lee, you should go with Ino to the hospital. Take Tenten and Neji. The rest of us should go to the Hokage's office and give her the news."

"Wow...he's really gone..." Rock Lee stated. Everyone was left to their own thoughts for a moment.

Finally, Lee nodded, and he and Ino each picked up a person. "Wait...I'll go too," Shikamaru commented, taking Tenten from Ino. "I can help."

Gaara nodded again. "Alright, let's go."

Each group headed in different directions, and they were almost out of the training grounds when Hinata froze. Kiba stopped and looked back at her. "What is it, Hinata?"

"I was just thinking..." Hinata said. "Where did that girl go? Karin, I think?"

.

"Sasuke?! Neji!? Gaara!? Tenten!? ANYONE!?" Karin exclaimed, wandering through the woods, wondering how the heck she had been split up from the group during the chase to the training grounds. "I'M LOST! IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?! HELLO?"


	15. Recovery

"Dammit, Tsunade-sama!" Sakura seethed from her place in the storage closet. "She orders all the nurses in this place to look for me, and not ONE of them bothers to check in HERE!" She sighed. "I miss ONE DAY at the Ninja Academy, and it just HAPPENS to be Escape Jutsu day!" She looked around quickly for something to help her. She was a ninja! There was no way a few pieces of cloth were going to stop her!

She had to admit, Sasuke was smart, though. He had tied the cloth-rope around her upper arms, rather than her wrists, where she could have easily used her chakra from her hands to cut them. And some kind of cord was around her ankles. For the past few hours, she had been trying to stand up without using her hands, and her ankles tied together. It wasn't working.

She growled as another nurse rushed by the door. "How did these dumb bitches get through medical training?"

After a moment, she frowned. "...and I wonder what happened to Naruto. I know Sasuke was going after him...but I heard the nurses say it was Tsunade's orders to look for me. That means Tsunade must have been in Naruto's room and saw that I was missing. So most likely, she arrived either at the same time I disappeared or a tiny bit afterwards. Which means she may have caught Sasuke before he could hurt Naruto. Or as he was hurting Naruto. Or right after he hurt Naruto!"

She let out another growl and tried to scoot closer to the door. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before..." Finally she managed to reach it, placing her feet against it. She waited until she heard footsteps, and then kicked the door as hard as she could, intending to get someone's attention.

Oh, she got it alright. When her feet went right through the door and into the hallway, the nurse leading Shikamaru, Ino, and Rock Lee to a room nearly fainted.

"Sakura?" came Ino's voice. "What on Earth are you doing in there?"

"Well, Sasuke tied me in here about THREE HOURS AGO! And all the nurses were too dumb to look in here!"

The nurse recovered from shock enough to glare at her.

"Here," Ino said, shoving her feet back through the door, and then opening it. "I'll untie you."

Sakura looked at her anxiously as Ino undid her ankles and arms. "What about Sasuke? And Naruto? Last I heard, Sasuke was heading towards Naruto's room and there was nobody to stop him!"

Ino gave her a small smile, helping her up. They walked out of the closet and over to Rock Lee and Shikamaru, and Sakura gasped. "What happened to Neji and Tenten? Are they okay?"

"I healed them as best as I could, but we brought them here afterwards. Listen, I'll tell you everything once we get to their room."

"It's right this way," the nurse interrupted, leading them down the hall towards Naruto's room. Sakura intended on peeking in when they passed by, but the door was closed and she couldn't see anything.

They reached a room with two beds, and Tenten and Neji were each placed on one. As the nurse began to tend to their wounds, with Rock Lee watching intently, Shikamaru and Ino turned to Sakura.

"Okay, here's what happened," Ino started. "After Sasuke tied you up, I'm guessing, he went to Naruto's room, planning on killing him. Originally Tsunade had placed two ANBU to guard him, but she knew that wouldn't be enough. By the time he got to you, they were both already unconscious. So anyway, she decided to station all of us as backup! Me, Shikamaru, Chouji, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Karin, and the three of them." She pointed to the three ninja behind her. "Thirteen of us. Plus Tsunade came herself, but she didn't go with us afterwards...anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. This is what happened: We all came out and Sasuke nearly shit himself, but managed to escape through the ceiling, which explains that huge gaping hole you managed not to notice as we walked by Naruto's room. We all chased him to the training grounds, except for Tsunade. When we got there, Karin had disappeared. We still don't know exactly where she went, but nobody really cares, so..."

"Here, maybe I should take over," Shikamaru interrupted. "Here's what happened, but with less detail. Sasuke used eleven shadow clones, so that made twelve of him and twelve of us. We each took one and chased it, and Tenten ended up fighting the real one. Neji came to help eventually, but I guess he got hurt too. Meanwhile, once Ino and I showed up with the others, other than Neji and Tenten of course, and the one I was fighting turned out to be a shadow clone, we all knew Tenten was fighting the real one. So Gaara and Rock Lee went to help. Lee brought Neji and Tenten back and told us Gaara was fighting Sasuke. Eventually, Gaara came back, but Sasuke wasn't with him."

Shikamaru took a deep breath. "...and then he said that he killed Sasuke."

Sakura stared at them. "Really? Sasuke's dead?"

They nodded. "According to Gaara, he is. He said he used Desert Funeral on him. I doubt anyone could survive that," Shikamaru told her.

Sakura looked at the ground and nodded. "Yeah. I suppose no one could." She looked up at them. "Are...are you guys sad?"

Ino blinked at her. "Why...are you?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. Sometimes when I think of Sasuke I picture that monster he became. But other times, I think of that twelve-year-old that was on a team with us just a few years ago. What happened to him?"

"Orochimaru happened. I don't think he was ever the same after he decided to go to Orochimaru. Even if it was for revenge. Orochimaru changed him. I'm sure you've heard this before, but Sasuke wasn't the same person he was three years ago," Ino said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Sakura stared at Ino's serious face. "I think that's the most intelligent think you've ever said."

Ino frowned. "Ha, ha. Anyway, we need to make sure Neji and Tenten are alright."

They looked at Lee expectantly. "What?" he asked.

"Well, you've been paying attention the entire time. Are they going to be okay?"

"The nurse thinks so. But Lady Hokage will have to come check on them later today to make sure. However, the flames of youth are sure to burn brightly in my youthful comrades soon enough! They will live!" Rock Lee gave them two thumbs up.

"Okaaay..." Sakura started. "I think I'm going to go see Naruto...wait, you did say he's alright, right?"

"Sasuke didn't touch him," Ino replied. Sakura grinned and ran out of the room.

.

"Lady Hokage!" Hinata cried, bursting into the room with six other ninja behind her.

Tsunade, who had been doing paperwork at her desk, stood up quickly. "I'm so sorry I couldn't come with you guys. I should have. I don't know what I was thinking! If any of you got hurt..."

"We're all okay. Neji and Tenten are in the hospital though," Kiba told her.

Tsunade nodded. "I'll be sure to check on them later then as long as it's not too serious."

"Tenten took a kunai to the thigh, and Neji got one in the gut," Kankuro put in.

"Alright." Tsunade gave them another nod. She looked at Gaara. "Did you all capture Sasuke?"

Gaara shook his head. "I had to kill him."

Tsunade took a deep breath. "Okay. I won't question your judgement as the Kazekage. I'm sure you had no other choice. Thank you for alerting me, I'll be heading down to the hospital in a little while."

They all nodded, and one by one they left the room.

.

Sakura flung the door open to Naruto's room, not caring about the loud bang it made. Naruto was still asleep, but other than that he looked fine.

She sat down on the chair next to him, stroking his cheek silently. Sakura studied his face.

His cheeks were slightly pink, his lips were parted and he was breathing through his mouth, and of course his eyes were closed.

Sakura couldn't help grinning. He was actually going to be alright. Sasuke was gone, and he couldn't do anything to hurt them.

How could things get any better?

Sakura's unspoken question was answered when Naruto's hand twitched, and his eyes slowly fluttered open.


	16. Naruto Wakes Up

"S-Sakura-chan?" Naruto muttered, squinting up at her. "What happened?" Sakura's eyes widened and she pulled him up by his arms, then wrapped hers around him in a tight hug.

"Naruto! You're awake!" Sakura cried, pulling away after a moment and grinning at him.

"Uh...yeah. But..." Naruto looked around the room. "Am I in a hospital? And what are you doing here? And..." He looked down at his stomach. "...and why is my chest wrapped in...that bastard." His eyes narrowed mid-sentence. "What happened to Sasuke? I thought he was dead. The last thing I remember was you leaving to go tell Tsunade-baa-chan that I killed him."

"Um..." Sakura looked at him nervously, biting her lip. "...Sasuke's..."

"He's awake!" came a voice from the doorway. Both Sakura and Naruto turned to see a nurse ushering three more nurses into the room, and immediately they pulled Sakura away from Naruto and began examining him. Sakura glared at the nurses.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted angrily. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Let me talk to my girlfriend!"

"We have to make sure you're okay," one nurse commented, unwrapping his bandages and shoving him down onto the bed so she could examine the wound.

"I'm the Hokage's apprentice. Let me do it," Sakura told them, shoving past them with another glare. "You can leave now."

The nurses looked at her doubtfully, before a rolling sound came from outside and another nurse ran by with an old woman on a stretcher. "This woman needs medical attention!" the nurse called out. "She had a heart attack!"

The nurses looked from Sakura to the doorway, before running after the other nurse quickly.

Sakura turned back to Naruto, who was lying on the bed, looking up at her. "I really hate this hospital," Naruto commented. Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I need to check your chest to see if it's healed properly, okay?"

"Okay. I'll just lay still. But what about Sasuke? What happened to him? Do you know?" He shivered as Sakura's fingers danced across his bare chest, pressing down on different points occassionally.

"Ino filled me in on what happened. Does this hurt?" She pressed down lightly on the place where Sasuke had stabbed him.

Naruto hissed in pain and grabbed her hand. "Yes! Now will you please tell me what happened, and how Ino knows ANYTHING about this?"

"Oh, sorry." She avoided his eyes, but kept her hand beneath his. "Well...Sasuke was hurt too, so of course he came here. He got the room right across from this one. Last night, he tried to...to kill you again." She took a shaky breath and tried to hold back tears. She would NOT cry.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, noticing her discomfort. "I'm okay now, you know that, right?"

Sakura shrugged uncomfortably. "I know. It's just that...I couldn't stop him this time. If it weren't for Tsunade-sama and the others, you'd be dead."

Naruto's eyes softened. "It's not your job to protect me, Sakura."

Sakura sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "I know. But it doesn't help to know that I wasn't strong enough to protect you."

"But that doesn't matter anymore. I'm okay, you're okay, everyone's fine, right?" Naruto sat up and looked at her. Sakura shook her head.

"Neji and Tenten are injured, and they're in another room right now. And Sasuke's...he's...well, Ino told me that Gaara killed him." She looked at him nervously.

Naruto stared down at the floor without a word. After a moment, he looked back up at her. "Gaara, really? Well, better Gaara than me, I suppose..." he commented thoughtfully.

"You're really okay with it?" Sakura asked, raising her eyebrows.

"He's with his parents now," Naruto replied with a shrug. "Maybe this was the best thing for him, anyway. He's probably happier now, right?"

"Well, I guess you can think of it that way. But I don't really want to talk about it right now, okay? We should be more worried about Neji and Tenten, and if they're going to be alright. They're our friends, after all."

"Yeah. You're right." Naruto started to stand up. "Wait, will they let me out of here?"

"If I say so they will," Sakura told him.

Naruto nodded his understanding, looking around the room. "Where are my clothes?"

"Oh. They're in here." Sakura moved to a cabinet and opened it, pulling out his newly washed outfit.

"Thanks. I...um, I'm already in just my boxers, so I'll just...yeah." He looked at her nervously, and she watched with a smirk as he pulled his clothes on quickly.

"Well, should we go see Neji and Tenten, then?" Sakura asked, moving past him to leave the room.

"Wait!" Naruto called, grabbing her arm. "You never even told me what happened."

Sakura sighed. "Alright. I'll just tell you what Ino told me. Tsunade-sama got Team 8, Team 10, the three Sand-nin, Team Gai, and Karin to come defend you."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Wow, she really cares about me, huh?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Sasuke got rid of two ANBU, and...me, and went to go kill you. That's when they all showed up. Sasuke fled to the training grounds, where they all followed him. Karin got lost somewhere on the way and nobody's seen her since." She tried to keep a straight face as she said the last sentence. Naruto cracked a grin. "Sasuke then used the shadow clone jutsu, most likely copying it from you with his Sharingan, and each ninja took a Sasuke. When each of them defeated a clone, they returned to a certain field and met there. Eventually it got down to Tenten and Shikamaru. Ino and Neji each went to help. Then they all found out that Tenten had the real one, so Gaara and Rock Lee went to go find Tenten and Neji. When they got there, both Neji and Tenten were unconscious. Rock Lee took his teammates back to the others, and Gaara fought Sasuke. You know the rest."

Naruto gave her a thoughtful look. "So...Gaara's positive he killed Sasuke?"

Sakura nodded. "I haven't talked to him, but Sasuke was able to take down both Neji and Tenten, so I'm pretty sure he was the real one."

Naruto shrugged. "Alright. Well...I'm really glad you're okay. I can't imagine how Neji must have felt. Out of all the Sasukes, when he found out Tenten had the real one..." He shivered. "That must have been horrible." He wrapped an arm around Sakura and pulled her against him. "If that had been me and you..."

Sakura shot him a look. "Oh, stop thinking about things like that. Everything's fine now. And I'm sure Tsunade-sama can fix Neji and Tenten up in no time. Ino told me the others have gone to get her. Alright?" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah. You're right I guess." He grinned at her mischeviously. "But what shall we do while we're waiting for her to get here?"

"Aw, there's the old Naruto," Sakura said with a smile, wrapping her arms around him.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Mmm...that would be a no."

"What? Why not!?"

"Because you have a chest injury," she replied, prodding the place where the kunai had gone through. Naruto grunted. "...and it wouldn't be healthy for you to have a fast heart rate until you're completely healed."

Naruto glared down at her. "And what makes you think that kissing you will speed up my heart rate?"

Sakura looked up at him disbelievingly. "Are you serious?"

Naruto crossed his arms and looked at her smugly, choosing not to reply. She met his smirk with one of her own, and Naruto felt her hand grab his and squeeze it.

Naruto's expression changed immediately. "S-Sakura?"

Her face came closer. "This was what you wanted, right?"

He could feel her breath on his face. "Wha...what are you doing?"

Sakura's other hand moved to his chest so that it was directly over his heart. She could feel his pulse quickening. "Proving you wrong." She leaned in closer so their lips were almost touching. Naruto's eyes slid shut and he leaned forward slightly...but then he felt Sakura move away. His eyes shot open to see her across the room, grabbing a few napkins from inside one of the cabinets.

"Hey, Sakura, why did you..." His eyes widened and he opened his mouth, feeling his throat start to tingle. He leaned over quickly so he was staring at the floor, quickly coughing up a few tiny droplets of blood. Sakura hurried over with the napkins, dabbing at his mouth with them.

"Told you," she said, putting a hand on his cheek to hold his face steady. Naruto looked at her quickly, and his cheeks heated up, more coughs racking his body. Sakura tried to keep from laughing, realizing what she had done and quickly removing her hand from his cheek. Naruto leaned over, facing the floor again, while Sakura rubbed his back softly, murmuring, "Gai in a thong, Gai in a thong..."

Naruto's eyes widened even more and he collapsed on the floor, his coughing turning into gagging. Finally, Sakura managed to calm him down, and she helped him up quickly. Naruto glared at her. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Hey, you're the one who said I couldn't speed up...

"Not that! Why on earth would you give me a mental image like that?"

"Oh. Heh...sorry, I thought it would calm you down." She gave him a guilty look.

Naruto sighed. "Okay, since we can't kiss or anything, let's just go check on Neji and Tenten, okay?"

Sakura grinned at him and nodded. "Okay."


	17. The Fate of Karin

Naruto sat at Ichiraku Ramen, shoving bowl after bowl down his throat without pausing. Sakura sat next to him, scowling in his general direction with her elbow on the bar and her palm on her cheek. It had been seven days since Naruto had woken up. "Are you done yet?"

Naruto slurped up another bowl full of noodles in response. If she didn't know better, Sakura could have sworn Naruto was inhaling them. "So...recovery's going well, huh?"

Naruto let out a loud sigh, dropping his chopsticks at last and signaling for his bill. "Ah...nothing like twenty-seven bowls of ramen right before lunch...yum."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why don't you eat something else for a change?" She swatted him in the belly, and Naruto grinned at her. "You're going to get fat eventually!"

Naruto payed the bill and grabbed her hand, leading her away from the bar. "Aw, come on Sakura-chan, you know that's not true! Not with all my ninja training!"

"Whatever. Those calories have to add up sooner or later."

Naruto shook his head, giving her another grin and pulling her faster down the street. "C'mon, we have to meet everybody for lunch, remember?"

Sakura looked around for a nearby clock, finally spotting one and checking the time. "You're right, where are we supposed to go again?"

Naruto stopped suddenly, looking at her. "Huh? I thought you'd remember."

Sakura's expression twisted into a grimace, and she clapped a hand to her forehead. "Ugh, I should've known you wouldn't remember either...help me remember what Hinata told us. It was called... Araki something!" She looked up at him. "Araki...Araki...oh, of course! Araki Sushi!"

"Great!" Naruto exclaimed. "Now where do we go?"

Sakura glared at him.

.

Seven days had passed, judging by the positions of the sun. "Stupid woods..." Karin mumbled. "Who knew the training grounds was surrounded by so much forest?"

She was lucky. Only after a few hours of being lost, Karin had stumbled across a few bushes of non-poisonous berries, along with a small river nearby. Perfect living conditions for the outdoors. Karin looked around. If she had calculated correctly, the training grounds were probably less than a half hour away. The problem was, if she went in the wrong direction, she could end up even deeper into the forest. So which way led back to Konoha?

Karin shook her head, helping herself to another berry from her spot on the ground. Feeling her throat dry up again, she crawled to the river, helping herself to a handfull of water. She looked up and raised her eyebrows. "What the...?" Someone was coming; she could hear the soft padding of feet getting louder and louder. Could it be someone that would help her? Karin frowned, weighing her odds. If it wasn't someone friendly, she wasn't exactly in the best shape for a fight. She quickly rose to her feet, dashing to hide behind the nearest berry bush.

From her position nearby the river, she could see a shadowy figure getting closer and closer. It was a boy, she could tell. The boy bent down by the river, copying Karin's earlier motions and slurping water from his hands. After a few more drinks, the boy stood up straight, facing her. She held back a gasp.

What was Sasuke doing here? How had he escaped the others? Was Naruto okay?

Karin's train of thought ended when Sasuke's eyes moved across the scene in front of him.

His eyes reached the bushes, and Karin's eyes widened as he stared straight at her. Could he see her?

The Uchiha seemed to study her for a second, before he took a step forward. Karin held her breath. If he wanted a fight, she most definitely couldn't win. He was getting closer. With one last small thump, Sasuke stood next to the bush she was hiding behind. His arm came forward...and he picked a berry off of the bush. "Hmph," he said, popping it into his mouth. Karin remained silent.

"Hello, Karin," Sasuke said suddenly, leaning over and looking down at her. She froze, looking up at him slowly.

"S-Sasuke..." Karin stuttered, getting up after a moment and backing away from him. "What are you doing here? What happened with the other ninja?"

"Eh..." Sasuke picked another berry and put it in his mouth. "Used shadow clones to fool them. I fixed them so that when one was defeated, its chakra would go to a certain shadow clone and make it stronger. That made it appear as though that certain shadow clone was the real me. Meanwhile, I escaped into these woods, and I've been hiding here ever since." His eyes narrowed. "By the way...you tell anyone I'm alive, and I'll kill you." In a second, she was pressed up against a tree with a kunai against her throat. "Clear?"

.

"Finally!" Kiba cried as Sakura and Naruto ran up to the large group. Hinata gave them a shy smile.

"You're ten minutes late," Neji deadpanned, looking down at his new watch.

Tenten rolled her eyes at Neji, hitting him lightly with one of her crutches. "Ignore him," she said to Naruto and Sakura, who grinned and took a seat next to their friends.

"Ready for lunch, babe?" Ino asked, opening her menu and raising an eyebrow at Shikamaru.

"Don't call me that, Ino."

Sakura and Ino shot each other grins as the waiter arrived.

"May I take your orders?" he asked, looking around at them.

Naruto cleared his throat, looking at his menu. "Do you have ramen here?"

"NARUTO!"

.

Karin gulped, looking at Sasuke's hardened face. "Clear."

Sasuke pulled away, twirling the kunai around his finger absentmindedly. "Good." He jerked his thumb in the direction to Karin's right. "Village is that way."

Karin stared at him, unsure whether to believe him or not.

"I'm not lying. If I wanted you dead, I could just do it right now." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "No doubt you'll probably tell. And when you do, I'll come back. Like I've always said...I'm an avenger. And now I have a new purpose: to kill Naruto Uzumaki and claim Sakura as my own. I'm going to leave this village and get stronger. Strong enough to take out every shinobi and kunoichi this village has got."

They stared at each other. "You're crazy," Karin finally said, shaking her head.

"You're probably right." Sasuke grinned at her wolfishly. "But I like being crazy." He leaped into the nearest branch, staring down at her. "Remember, if you tell...I'll find out. And trust me, you WILL tell eventually. That's when I'll come back...for both you and Naruto. Have a nice life, bitch." He sped away before Karin could blink. Slowly, she slid down against the tree until she was sitting on the ground.

"All of the others put together couldn't kill him..." She blinked and shook her head. "I can't believe it...Sasuke's still alive, and I'm the only one that knows. And he'll kill me if I tell..." She frowned, standing up and heading in the direction Sasuke had pointed in a daze. "I don't want to die..." She continued walking, looking up at the sky silently.

So she was the only one who knew what had really happened to Sasuke. And...wait...he wouldn't come back if she didn't tell anyone! Karin shook her head in disbelief, holding back a grin. She could just let people THINK Sasuke was dead, and he would never bother anyone ever again. She wouldn't have to die, and neither would Naruto.

Karin set her jaw. Her mind was made up. No matter what, she had to keep Sasuke's secret, down to the very end.

**The End!**

**A/N: **

**Sequel:... Er...I don't know. I left it open in case I wanted to continue this, and I have a good idea of what could happen...but I just don't know. Anyone want a sequel?**


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